Hamas and Palestinian armed clan clash despite Gaza ceasefire

Just as a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas, the latter witnessed a new armed front in the Gaza Strip, this time domestically.

The Palestinian group had engaged in an intense military confrontation with the Dughmush family in Gaza City, which resulted in 27 fatalities (the majority being from the aforementioned clan). Eyewitnesses reported that clashes erupted in Tel al-Hawa neighborhood as Hamas sent 300 fighters to storm a residential bloc where Dughmush gunmen were entrenched, while the Palestinian group noted that its security forces were surrounded by the clan’s members.

Conflicting narratives between both sides have led to a trade in accusations regarding the recent armed conflict. Hamas claimed that Dughmush gunmen killed 2 of its fighters and wounded 5 others, prompting the group to launch an operation against them. On the other hand, the clan said that Hamas’s aim was to evict the family from the Jordanian Hospital, which they have taken refuge after the demolition of their homes, in order to establish a new base for the group. With that being said, Gaza’s domestic dynamics could potentially witness an intense and deadly power competition between rival Palestinian factions.