Hamas-run interior ministry trains 200 Gazan police officers

The Islamic Hamas movement which runs the Gazan interior ministry has trained 200 police officers.

The police officers graduated on Sunday following their three-month training course.

The fresh graduates organized a parade and a police show before hundreds of people, including the officers' family members, their colleagues and friends.

One of the shows depicted how to protect Very Important Personalities (VIPs) in addition to a symbolic gathering beside al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Palestinian police's logo.

The graduates also carried flags of several Arab and Islamic states while marching at the Palestinian police's headquarters in Gaza.

Tayseer el-Batsh, Gazan police director, informed the ceremony that police forces in the Gaza Strip work round the clock to enforce the law and ensure the safety of the population.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Bahar, a senior Gazan Hamas leader declared at the ceremony that they will continue defending the Palestinian cause.

"Those dignified police officers will lead us to victory and liberty as they hold the doctrine and principles of Islam in their hearts," said Bahar.

The graduation ceremony was held in Gaza and the minister of interior, Rami Hamdallah, also the Palestinian consensus government Prime Minister based in Ramallah, was absent.

Since the consensus government was formed in June 2014 as per an agreement reached with Hamas, Hamdallah has only visited Gaza twice.

However, Hamas hasn't yet handed Hamdallah control of the ministry of interior and continues to run it.

An internal Palestinian split between the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the West Bank controlled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has been ongoing since 2007, and has completely alienated daily life in both territories. Endit