At least 27 people have been killed in fierce clashes between Hamas security forces and armed members of the Dughmush family in Gaza City, in one of the most violent internal confrontations since the end of major Israeli operations in the enclave.
Masked Hamas gunmen exchanged fire with clan fighters near the city's Jordanian hospital, witnesses said.
A senior official in the Hamas-run interior ministry said security units surrounded them and engaged in heavy fighting to detain them. The ministry stated that eight of its members were killed in what it described as an armed assault by a militia.
Medical sources confirmed that 19 Dughmush clan members and eight Hamas fighters had been killed since the violence began on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses reported that the clashes erupted in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in southern Gaza City after more than 300 Hamas fighters moved to storm a residential block where Dughmush gunmen were entrenched.
Residents described scenes of panic as dozens of families fled their homes under heavy gunfire, many of them already displaced multiple times during the ongoing conflict. This time people weren't fleeing Israeli attacks, one resident noted. They were running from their own people..
The Dughmush family, one of Gaza's most prominent clans, has had a tense relationship with Hamas, and its armed members have previously clashed with the group.
The Hamas-run interior ministry indicated that its forces were attempting to restore order, cautioning that any armed activity outside the framework of the resistance would be confronted decisively.
As both sides exchanged accusations regarding the instigation of the clashes, Hamas claimed that Dughmush gunmen killed two of its fighters, which prompted the group to initiate operations against them.
A Dughmush family source countered that Hamas forces had stormed a building that previously functioned as the Jordanian Hospital, where the family sought refuge after their al-Sabra neighbourhood homes were destroyed in recent Israeli attacks. The source asserted that Hamas aimed to evict them from the building to establish a new stronghold.
Local sources indicate Hamas has recalled approximately 7,000 members of its security forces to reassert control in areas of Gaza that were recently vacated by Israeli troops, with reports of armed units already deployed throughout various districts, some in civilian clothes and others in police uniforms. However, the Hamas media office denied accusations of deploying fighters in the streets.
