NYPD orders all officers to report to duty in anticipation of civil unrest following Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel

The New York Police Department is on high alert for potential attacks on US soil following a call to action from a former Hamas official who encouraged Palestinian supporters to commit acts of violence on Friday in what he called a "global day of jihad."

All NYPD officers have been ordered to report for duty in uniform on Friday in anticipation of potential unrest, and the FBI issued a statement encouraging the community to remain vigilant and report suspicious behavior, although the agency indicated they have not received credible threats of terrorism.

"All uniformed members of the service in every rank, will perform duty in the uniform of the day and be prepared for deployment," a memo sent to all NYPD members reads, which was obtained by the New York Post.

The memo states that the directive will be in place "until further notice" and that police officers will not be eligible for an excuse of absence or shift adjustments.

While New York City experienced the most heinous of terrorist attacks on US soil on Sept. 11, 2001, the NYPD is currently struggling with a staffing crisis at the hands of the anti-police movement. The department's two units that specialize in counterterrorism, the Critical Response Command (CRC) and the Strategic Response Group (SRG), are down officers as a result.

The CRC unit in the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau was downsized by 75 percent in order to put more bodies on patrol. This unit is trained to respond to "the most highly organized and heavily armed attacks" and is described as one of the department's "first lines of defense against a terrorist-related attack," according to The Post.

The CRC unit was created by NYPD 8 years ago and has a well-trained team of 500 police officers that are dispatched to high-profile events in the city's five boroughs.

Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton slammed the New York City Council and blamed them for the staffing crisis, saying that the two counterterrorism groups that he created in 2015 are more crucial than ever.

"The department is down to about 33,000 officers," Bratton told the outlet. "During my time, we were able to grow the department to about 36,000 or 37,000. This is coming at a time where potential threats around the world and the threat to the United States have increased exponentially."

"The city budget this year did not request additional officers because, I believe, they understood that the City Council would not have approved with their anti-police attitude," Bratton explained. "So right now you have a significantly understaffed police force that’s being overworked and required to work extraordinary amounts of overtime. Ironically, the City Council is upset about the high overtime in the NYPD, but that’s because they refuse to hire more officers."

Speaking on the slashing of the counterterrorim units Bratton said, "They both have primary missions: CRC is focused on protecting against terrorist-related types of attacks and SRG is trained to deal with crowd-control demonstrations. Both have been reduced significantly in size."

"Each of those entities would have 600 highly trained officers, all specially equipped with the long guns, the helmets, the heavy shields — they are the elite units trained to deal with counterterrorism. They're the ones you see in front of synagogues and the UN," he explained.

Times Square became the center of pro-Hamas celebrations on Sunday following Hamas' attack on Israel, in which terrorists struck the nation at daybreak on Saturday by land, air and sea. They slaughtered more than 1,000 civilian and military men, women, and children.

The pro-Hamas demonstrators called for the genocide of Jews and proudly waved Hamas flags. One individual was seen flashing an image of a swastika to Jews counter-protesting the demonstration.

New York City is home to the largest Jewish population in the United States.