Students train to join Hamas despite salary crisis

(4 Oct 2016) LEAD IN: Fifty students are undergoing tough college training to join the security forces of Hamas in the next six months. They ll be the eighth group to graduate from the course and they are training at a time when Hamas is struggling find funds to pay its employees. STORYLINE: Faces and bodies stained with mud, this group of young men prepare for a gruelling round of training. Following instructions from strict trainers, they stand in lines before running towards each other and forming a circle. They take turns throwing themselves onto the ground before jumping over fire and crawling under barbed wire. They re part of a group of 50 young men who will graduate with bachelor s degrees from the AlRebat College for Law and Police Science in the next six months. The training is preparation for them to join the security forces of Hamas, the militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. This course aims to transfer the student from the civilian life to the military one an