GAZA, Oct 13: At least 27 people have died in fierce fighting between Hamas security forces and armed members of the Dughmush family in Gaza City, in what the BBC described as one of the bloodiest internal clashes since Israel’s withdrawal from most parts of the enclave.
Witnesses told the BBC that masked Hamas gunmen exchanged fire with Dughmush clan fighters near the Jordanian hospital area. A senior official from the Hamas-run interior ministry said security forces surrounded the fighters before engaging in hours of heavy gunfire. The ministry said eight of its members were killed during what it called “an armed assault by a militia,” according to the BBC.
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Medical officials quoted by the BBC said 19 members of the Dughmush clan and eight Hamas fighters were killed after the clashes erupted on Saturday in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood. The BBC reported that Hamas deployed more than 300 fighters to storm a residential building where Dughmush gunmen were believed to be holed up.
Residents told the BBC that panic spread quickly as families fled the area under intense fire. “People weren’t escaping Israeli bombs this time,” one resident said. “They were running from each other.”
The Dughmush clan, one of Gaza’s most powerful families, has long had a strained relationship with Hamas. The BBC noted that the two sides have fought several times before over control, territory, and criminal allegations.
The Hamas-run ministry said its forces were acting to “restore order” and warned that any “armed activity outside the resistance” would face strict action, the BBC reported. Each side blamed the other for triggering the violence. Hamas accused Dughmush gunmen of killing two of its fighters, while a Dughmush family source told local media, cited by the BBC, that Hamas attacked a building where family members had taken refuge after losing their homes in Israeli bombardment. The source alleged Hamas wanted to seize the site for a new military base.
The BBC also said Hamas has recalled around 7,000 members of its security forces to reassert control over areas vacated by Israeli troops, with armed units redeployed across Gaza, though the Hamas media office denied deploying “fighters in the streets.”
