Urban Gaza Confrontations Between Palestinian Movement and Clan Fighters Leave 27 Lives Lost.

At least 27 individuals have been killed in intense exchanges between Hamas armed units and fighters of the Dughmush family in the Gaza urban area, marking a particularly severe intra-Palestinian conflicts since the conclusion of large-scale Israeli military actions in the enclave.

Masked Hamas gunmen exchanged fire with clan fighters near the city's medical facility, according to witnesses.

Authority Report

A high-ranking officer in the Hamas-run interior ministry stated that armed units surrounded them and participated in intense combat to apprehend them. The authority reported that eight its members were lost in "an armed assault by a militia".

Hospital representatives confirmed that nineteen Dughmush clan members and 8 Hamas security personnel had been lost their lives since conflict started on the weekend.

Eyewitness Testimonies

Local residents reported that the confrontations erupted in the Tel al-Hawa area in the southern part of Gaza City after a Hamas unit of 300+ combatants moved to storm a apartment building where Dughmush gunmen were fortified.

Residents described chaotic situations as many residents evacuated their residences under heavy gunfire, with a significant number having been forced to move frequently during the war.

"On this occasion people weren't fleeing Israeli offensives," a local inhabitant stated. "They were escaping from their fellow Palestinians."

Long-Standing Strain

The Dughmush tribe, among Gaza's notable families, has historically maintained a conflictual dynamic with the ruling movement, and its fighter elements have confronted the organization on numerous times in the previous years.

The interior ministry under Hamas administration stated its personnel were working to reinstate stability, alerting that "any armed activity beyond the structure of the national struggle" would be addressed decisively.

Contradictory Versions

Both sides traded accusations over who was responsible for starting the conflict.

The organization initially reported that Dughmush fighters killed two its militants and injured five additional members, resulting in the organization to launch an operation against them.

In contrast, a source from the Dughmush family stated to regional press that Hamas fighters had arrived at a facility that previously functioned as the Jordanian Hospital, where the tribe had sought shelter after their dwellings in the al-Sabra neighbourhood were devastated in the previous Israeli assault.

The insider claimed that the authority sought to evict the family from the structure to establish a new base for its forces there.

Larger Context

Hamas has mobilized about 7,000 members of its security forces to reassert control over Gaza regions recently vacated by Israeli forces, according to area informants.

Accounts reveal that Hamas militant squads have been positioned across various neighborhoods, with some wearing civilian clothes and additional elements in the blue gear of the Gaza police. The Hamas media office denied that it was stationing combatants in urban zones.