GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a surprising move, employees of the Palestinian Crossing and Borders Authority, affiliated with the Palestinian Authority (PA), left the Kerem Shalom crossing, the Gaza Strip's only official commercial crossing, Feb. 17. Hamas security forces then assumed control of the crossing, which lies at the junction of the Gaza-Israel border right next to Egypt.

Hamas had handed over control of the Gaza Strip crossing Nov. 1, 2017, to the Fatah-led PA in the West Bank under an ultimately unsuccessful reconciliation agreement the groups had signed in October 2017 in Cairo.

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa on Feb. 17 quoted the borders authority as saying Hamas expelled its employees "and prohibited them from accessing the crossing premises.” Hamas, however, disputes that it forced out the workers.

Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Moheisen told Al-Monitor that Hamas began harassing the borders authority staff at the crossing Feb. 10. "A security check was enforced against the staff before they entered the crossing. This harassment culminated when Hamas security forces insisted on taking staff fingerprints for unknown purposes Feb. 17”