GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces launched an unprecedented arrest campaign on July 2 targeting the supporters and leaders of Hamas in West Bank provinces, leading to condemnation by Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Meanwhile, concerns spread that the Palestinian reconciliation would collapse and internal division would re-emerge.
In a press conference attended by Al-Monitor July 7 in Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Abdul Rahman Shadid said that from July 2 to July 7, the number of Hamas detainees arrested by the PA topped 200 individuals — among them 37 university students and 98 former prisoners freed from Israeli jails.