No fewer than 27 lives have been killed in fierce confrontations between Hamas fighters and armed members of the Dughmush tribe in Gaza City, marking one of the most violent intra-Palestinian conflicts since the cessation of major Israeli operations in the territory.
Disguised Hamas militants exchanged fire with family militants near the city's Jordanian hospital, according to local sources.
Ministry Account
A top authority in the Hamas-controlled interior ministry stated that armed units surrounded them and entered fierce battles to apprehend them. The department reported that eight of its personnel were lost in "a violent offensive by a paramilitary force".
Medical sources confirmed that nineteen Dughmush tribe militants and 8 Hamas militants had been fatally injured since violence erupted on Saturday.
Local Reports
Observers reported that the confrontations erupted in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in the southern part of Gaza City after a Hamas unit of 300+ combatants proceeded to assault a housing complex where Dughmush fighters were entrenched.
Local inhabitants described scenes of panic as many residents fled their homes under intense shooting, with numerous individuals having been relocated repeatedly during the conflict.
"This time residents weren't escaping Israeli offensives," a local inhabitant stated. "They were escaping from their own people."
Long-Standing Tensions
The Dughmush tribe, among Gaza's notable families, has historically maintained a tense relationship with the governing authority, and its armed members have confronted the group on multiple instances in the earlier periods.
The interior ministry under Hamas administration stated its forces were seeking to restore order, warning that "any armed activity outside the framework of the national struggle" would be addressed decisively.
Contradictory Versions
Both sides leveled charges over which party was accountable for starting the conflict.
The organization earlier said that Dughmush militants killed two of its fighters and hurt five others, prompting the movement to commence a mission against them.
Conversely, a Dughmush family representative informed Palestinian outlets that Hamas fighters had arrived at a building that formerly operated as the Jordanian medical center, where the clan had taken refuge after their residences in the al-Sabra neighbourhood were devastated in the recent Israeli attack.
The representative claimed that Hamas attempted to remove the clan from the building to establish a new base for its units there.
Wider Context
Hamas has mobilized approximately 7,000 personnel of its security forces to reassert control over Gaza regions formerly abandoned by Israeli troops, according to regional insiders.
Reports suggest that armed Hamas units have been positioned across multiple areas, with certain members in plain attire and others in the blue gear of the Gaza law enforcement. The Hamas communication department rejected that it was deploying "fighters in the streets".
