under intense pressure from Israel and the Middle East Quartet to disarm Hamas, but fears of heavy resistance from the Al-Qassam Brigades and a possible civil war, coupled with a victory of the movement in the 2006 legislative elections, prevented any such attempts. As a result, it is widely believed that the brigades stockpiled thousands of homemade weapons and projectiles during 2005 and 2006 and were actively attempting to rebuild their destroyed cells in the West Bank. Also in 2005, President Mahmoud Abbas had taken direct control of the PA security forces which was loyal to the president's Fatah movement, and the Hamas government formed a separate 3,000-strong paramilitary police force in the Gaza Strip, called Executive Force, which was made up of members of the Al-Qassam Brigades. In May 2006, a police force was formed in Gaza, consisting of thousands of Brigade fighters. It aimed to restore law and order in the city but instead broke out into clashes with Fatah militias. On 10 June 2006, after the Gaza beach blast in which seven civilians died, the Brigades announced a cessation of the 2005 truce with Israel. In the following hours, they claimed responsibility for launching Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, and threatened to step up their attacks. In June and July 2006, the Al-Qassam Brigades were involved in the operation which led to the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and in the subsequent heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip following Operation Summer Rains, launched by the IDF. It was the first time in over 18 months that the brigades were actively involved in fighting against Israeli soldiers. In May 2007, the brigades acknowledged they lost 192 fighters during the operation. In January 2007, Abbas outlawed the Executive Force and ordered that its then-6,000 members be incorporated into the PA security forces under his command. The order was resisted by the Hamas government, which instead announced plans to double the size of the force to 12,000 men. The Al-Qassam Brigades and the Executive Force took part in the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007. In June 2008, Egypt brokered a ceasefire, which lasted until 4 November when Israeli forces crossed into Gaza and killed six Hamas fighters; this resulted in an increase in rocket attacks on Israel, going from two in September and October to 190 in November. Both sides claimed the other had