Gaza City Violence Involving Palestinian Movement and Clan Fighters Result in 27 Lives Lost.

A minimum of 27 lives have been lost in fierce confrontations between Hamas armed units and militants of the Dughmush family in Gaza City, marking one of the most violent internal confrontations since the cessation of extensive Israeli campaigns in the region.

Concealed Hamas militants traded gunfire with family militants near the city's healthcare center, according to observers.

Ministry Statement

A senior official in the interior ministry under Hamas stated that security units encircled them and entered fierce battles to capture them. The department reported that eight its personnel were killed in "a violent offensive by a militia".

Hospital representatives confirmed that nineteen Dughmush tribe militants and 8 Hamas security personnel had been fatally injured since violence erupted on recently.

Local Accounts

Eyewitnesses reported that the confrontations commenced in the Tel al-Hawa area in the southern part of Gaza City after a Hamas contingent of 300+ combatants advanced to attack a housing complex where Dughmush gunmen were entrenched.

Civilians described chaotic situations as many residents escaped their dwellings under heavy gunfire, with a significant number having been displaced multiple times during the hostilities.

"This time people weren't fleeing Israeli offensives," a local inhabitant stated. "They were fleeing from members of their community."

Long-Standing Strain

The Dughmush clan, a significant Gaza family, has historically maintained a conflictual dynamic with the ruling movement, and its armed members have engaged in violence with the movement on multiple instances in the past.

The Hamas-run interior ministry stated its forces were seeking to restore order, alerting that "every paramilitary operation beyond the structure of the Palestinian resistance" would be dealt with firmly.

Opposing Accounts

Each faction exchanged blame over which party was accountable for triggering the clashes.

The movement initially reported that Dughmush gunmen eliminated 2 its fighters and injured five others, prompting the group to initiate an action against them.

However, a Dughmush family representative told local media that Hamas forces had come to a building that previously functioned as the Jordanian healthcare facility, where the family had taken refuge after their residences in the al-Sabra neighbourhood were demolished in the recent Israeli attack.

The insider asserted that the authority attempted to remove the family from the premises to set up a fresh headquarters for its forces there.

Wider Context

Hamas has reactivated approximately 7,000 personnel of its armed forces to reassert control over Gaza territories formerly abandoned by Israeli forces, according to local sources.

Information indicates that Hamas militant squads have been stationed across multiple areas, with particular units in non-uniform clothing and the remainder in the blue gear of the Gaza law enforcement. The Hamas media office rejected that it was stationing combatants in urban zones.