The Arrow Unit () is a plain-clothed police unit of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Civil Police Force (PCPF) in the Gaza Strip that was formed in 2024 during the Gaza war. The unit is a participant in the Hamas–Popular Forces conflict.
The Arrow Unit has frequently employed extrajudicial executions. An official of the Gazan interior ministry has stated that executions "set an example for others and prevent chaos from being the norm in Gaza". Not all looters or collaborators detained by the Arrow Unit are executed, with others being beaten or imprisoned.
The groups operates a Telegram channel in which it publishes statements about its activities, threatens to arrest and or execute Palestinians who break the law, and even posts videos of its executions.
The Arrow Unit's first major operation during the Gaza war was a raid against the Israeli-backed Popular Forces on 19 November 2024, just after the latter had carried out the Kerem Shalom aid convoy looting three days earlier. About 20 Popular Forces militants were killed in the operation.
On 3 May, the Arrow Unit announced a strict nightly curfew for the Gaza Strip with the pretext that it would facilitate the hunting down of collaborators and thieves. The unit stated that anyone who violated the curfew without justification would be treated as a collaborator.
On 4 May, the unit claimed it would execute three Gazans for collaborating with Israel while also claiming that "the limbs of 13 thieves and people who incite chaos and anarchy will be amputated and their legs will be shot."
On 10 May, the FDD reported that an Israeli airstrike in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City killed the Arrow Unit's commander, Saqer Talib.
On 12 June, the Arrow Unit detained and killed 12 people who it said were Popular Forces militants; the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had claimed the dead were its aid workers.
On 24 June, Gazan activists claimed that the Arrow Unit had beaten prominent anti-Hamas protester Ahmed Muhammad al Masry to the point of hospitalization.
On 26 June, Arrow Unit members fled into the Nasser Hospital after a feud with the Barbakh clan, due to Arrow Unit members shooting and killing one member of the family. Armed members of the family pursued the Arrow Unit members and the two groups then had a shootout in the hospital. Local reports state that the unit made use of ambulances and targeted the homes of Barbakh family members.
In 17 September 2025, the Arrow Unit, published a warning against the Counter-Terrorism Strike Force. The post accused Husam al-Astal, the group's leader, of working for the Palestinian Authority's preventative security service and linked him to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.
According to the FDD, the group has been criticized for its usage of extrajudicial killings, extrajudicial beatings, lack of due process, frequently not providing evidence for accusations they make, and killing those speak out against Hamas.
|
|