The Gaza Strip's Hamas government today announced the arrest of six militant extremists suspected of stealing weapons and plotting attacks.
The arrests follow a series of rocket attacks on Israel by an extremist Islamic militant group that has threatened to unravel a November cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas' Interior Ministry said four men were charged with stealing rockets belonging to Palestinian militants and two others had tried to attack targets in Gaza. The ministry statement described the men as "extremists calling themselves Salafis," a reference to Muslims following a hard-line version of Islamic law. It didn't say when the men were arrested. Shadowy Salafi groups oppose Hamas' rule of Gaza. Although Hamas is also an Islamic militant group, the Salafis, who draw inspiration from the al-Qaida terror network, view it as too moderate.
On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed a Gaza Salafi who Israel said was involved in a recent rocket attack. The rocket, fired from Egypt's Sinai desert, landed in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat, causing no injuries.
A Salafi group rejected Hamas' accusations, saying the men were arrested for their "jihad against the Jews." In a statement, the Ibn Taimiya media center, which defends Salafi thought throughout the Middle East, said the men were students.
Salafi activists often accuse Hamas of arresting their men for firing rockets at Israel.
The issue is particularly sensitive for Hamas, because it does not want to be seen as protecting Israel's security, which Salafi activists accuse them of doing. But Hamas is upholding a truce with Israel, seeing that as being in the best interests of its own ability to govern Gaza, even while it prepares for further military confrontation with Israel in the future.
