Palestinian media sources report that Hamas-allied security forces killed seven members of the Army of Islam (AI) group in a shootout in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City yesterday. The shooting involved members of the Daghmoush clan, killing the brother of AI's leader Ibrahim Daghmoush. The total body count was reported to be 11, according to the LA Times.
The Army of Islam, a group whose ideology is ostensibly more in line with that of Al-Qaeda, but has been described by some as more of a mafia-style organization, is best known for its kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnston in 2007.
The group claims that security forces used the recent killing of a police officer as a pretext for yesterday's incident, and that Hamas has in fact launched a ‘war’ against the group. According to Ma’an's coverage, the leader of the AI also went on to say that security forces lied when they stated that those killed were involved in Johnston's kidnapping.
Despite the AI's questionable jihadist credentials, yesterday's incident has received a lot of coverage on jihadist weblogs and internet forums. Video footage allegedly taken in the aftermath of the incident, referred to some as an ‘execution’, has just been posted on YouTube (Warning: extremely graphic).
Interestingly, one forum user posted a banner in the al-Hesbah forum commemorating Army of Islam members killed in yesterday's incident. On the banner, Hamas-allied security forces are referred to as the Sahwaat of Palestine, therefore associating them with the Awakening (al-Sahwa) movement currently cooperating against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Hamas's media has in turn posted pictures of materials (see image above) allegedly confiscated yesterday by police from the ‘criminal’ members of the Daghmoush family. It's not clear whether these materials are exclusively weapons, explosives, or other contraband materials. According to the LA Times, the clan is suspected of being involved in drug trafficking, so perhaps it could be a little bit of both.
When looked at in its entirety, one might question whether police were going after AI or the larger so-called Daghmoush family criminal network. Perhaps these circumstances highlight the difficulty in distinguishing between what constitutes criminal organizations and terrorist groups in the Gaza context. When such entities become the target of other 'terrorist’ groups (i.e. Hamas) and are revered within the online media sphere by jihadist enthusiasts, the picture becomes even more opaque for those looking in from the outside.
