Hamas dismantles "Dahlan-linked cell" in Gaza

Hamas has claimed a cell led by Mohammed Dahlan was plotting attacks in Gaza in the style of the Islamic State group in order to destabilize the coastal strip.

According to Yehya Mousa, a Hamas leader in Gaza, the plot also reportedly involves Tawfiq Tirawi, a prominent security official expelled from the Fatah movement.  

Security services in the Gaza strip discovered a cell led by a woman called Marwa al-Masri who was in contact with Tirawi, the former head of intelligence in the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas security services say she confessed after being arrested and then handed over incriminating evidence.

Al-Masri was operating in a cell that operated openly against the mainstream Fatah movement lead by Abbas.

She is the wife of prominant Fatah leader Abdul Hamid al-Masri, a former member of Fatah's revolutionary council.  

The cell was reportedly preparing for a series of attacks and assassination of leaders of the Fatah movement including Ahmed Nasr, and reportedly attempted to manipulate the security in the Gaza strip through the cell.

Ismail Haniyeh, the deputy political head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip issued a warning to those who attempted to destabilize security in the Gaza Strip.

Preceding car bomb attacks that targeted Qassam leaders last year, sources in Hamas told The New Arab that a number of salafis had been arrested carrying large amounts of funds suspected to come from the UAE. 

Dahlan, the former head of Preventative Security in the Gaza Strip never returned to Gaza and lived in the West Bank, serving in the Abbas government in 2011. From there, he moved to the UAE in exile after being charged with corruption - though charges were dropped in April this year.

Dahlan is believed to be raising millions of dollars in the UAE and in contact with many people in Gaza - a situation that has fuelled much speculation about his next move.