While Donald Trump struts about having -supposedly- taken after “3,000 years”, . It is true that there is a ceasefire and that aid is beginning to arrive in dribs and drabs, but with the 67,000 murdered, the general destruction and the lack of resources, an extra problem is added: internal clashes. Hamas has complied with its disarmament and will take a step aside from the government of the strip, as indicated in the North American road map, but while it continues to rule the area and, now, it also has to face internal resistance.
Tensions between the Islamic Resistance Movement and other armed groups in the strip have intensified since the armistice came into effect last Friday. Especially serious was the clash on Sunday afternoon between a new armed clan and Hamas security forces, which left 27 dead, including eight members of the party-militia, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior in Gaza.
Caught in the crossfire was Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi, 28, who was covering clashes in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City between what security sources said was an “armed militia” and Hamas. Aljafarawi had become one of the references on social networks during these two years of Israel’s offensive.
Yesterday, shocking images also emerged showing an execution of militiamen by Hamas personnel. Seven men were murdered, as was later confirmed, in this firing squad, summoned in the middle of the population. The group confirmed the arrests of “a large number of collaborators” and members of rival militias that emerged within the framework of the Israeli military offensive.
Hamas confirmed shortly after that its Deterrence Forces, dependent on the security forces of the Gazan government, which Hamas controls, have launched several operations that have allowed them to arrest armed individuals whom they accuse of killing displaced people and attacking civilians, as well as taking positions of these rival militias, it reports through a WhatsApp channel.
Their raids took place both in the center and in the south of the strip, they specify. In the latter, several individuals accused of collaborating with the Israeli forces have been arrested and handed over to the judicial authorities for prosecution, they add. “Anyone found to be collaborating with the enemy or committing crimes will be referred to the judicial authorities so that the necessary legal measures can be taken,” Hamas stressed. “We are going to hit with an iron fist anyone who disrupts the security of the home front,” he adds.
A clan called Doghmush is the one most cited by the Gazan press when targeting Hamas, a large family with members in various factions across Gaza’s political spectrum. Momtaz Doghmush was involved in the capture of the Israeli soldier by the Jaish al-Islam group in 2008, possibly the most shocking kidnapping in Israel until that of the 250 hostages on October 7, 2025. Other members of the clan have been in Hamas in the past or in groups affiliated with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
Some reports cited by the Qatari network claim that the Doghmush who fought Hamas on Sunday were related to Israel, but other Gaza sources deny the affiliation. The Tel Aviv government helped strengthen Hamas when it emerged as a critical voice against Yasser Arafat, something that Hamas himself did.
The Sahem unit, an armed group affiliated with the Ministry of the Interior, details that the clashes began on Saturday when “an illegal gang killed resistance fighters from the Qassam Brigades,” the armed wing of Hamas, near the Jordan Field Hospital in the capital of the Palestinian territory.
Several witnesses told the BBC that up to 300 Hamas fighters stormed a residential block where Doghmush gunmen were hiding. A Palestinian security source also indicated that Hamas launched a campaign in Gaza City that killed 32 members of “a gang.” Without further details. According to the Interior Ministry, eight Hamas members and 19 clan members were killed. Aljafarawi among them.
Collaborations?
Given the accusation of collaboration with Israel, the group’s leaders deny the major. In early October, before the truce, Nizar Doghmush, head of the clan in Gaza City, told the newspaper that the Israeli Army had contacted him to manage a so-called humanitarian zone in Gaza City, but that he had refused to do so. Then, the Israel Defense Forces attacked his neighborhood in the Gazan capital, invading and “systematically” destroying some houses.
There is mutual animosity between Doghmush and Hamas that has already ended in armed clashes in the past. That’s not new. Power over territory is the key. The big question is the Israeli factor because, whether this group is funded or not, Tel Aviv has supported similar forces in the past, such as the Popular Forces, a militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab of the Tarabin Bedouin tribe of Gaza.
“Although Israel claimed that Hamas was stealing aid from the people of Gaza, it was revealed that the Popular Forces were the ones looting the aid to resell it to the starving population of Gaza. Hamas reportedly clashed with the Popular Forces on several occasions since September 2024, accusing them of being Israel’s collaborators,” Al Jazeera explains.
The network maintains that there are also reports that Israel has supported a group calling itself the Counter Terror Strike Force, led by Hussam al-Astal, a member of the al-Majida clan. The al-Astal group also clashed with Hamas in early October, before the ceasefire was announced, according to Israeli media such as .
Al-Astal is a former PNA security forces officer, but was accused by the National Authority itself and Hamas of collaborating with Israel in the 1990s. Israeli media said al-Astal was a member of the Abu Shabab militia and continues to coordinate with the leader of the Popular Forces. It controls a village called Qizan an-Najjar in the Khan Younis governorate of southern Gaza.
The constant activity of these groups against Hamas and against civilians has contributed to creating a sense of unrest, Gazans complain quietly. The security vacuum could lead to clashes between groups seeking to gain influence or territory and complicate processes as necessary and complicated as the distribution of aid, essential for survival.
