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Hamas Clashes With Rivals, Targets Prominent Families in Gaza Amid Power Struggle
Palestinian militants stand guard on the day that hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, are handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Following the Israeli military’s partial pullback under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, Hamas has mobilized around 7,000 fighters to reclaim areas vacated by Israeli forces, triggering widespread clashes and violence as the terrorist group seeks to reassert control over the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza announced that its forces were working to restore order, warning that “any armed activity outside the framework of the resistance” would be dealt with firmly.
According to local reports, the Palestinian terrorist group was moving to reestablish control over the war-torn enclave by targeting Palestinians who it labeled as “lawbreakers and collaborators with Israel.”
This past weekend, clashes between Hamas security forces and armed members of the Doghmush clan in Gaza City left at least 27 dead, marking a deadly internal confrontation just after the US-backed ceasefire went into effect last week.
This was the latest in a series of field executions carried out by Hamas terrorists in Gaza City and southern Gaza as the terrorist group moved to reassert control throughout the enclave.
“Hamas wants to impose its control over the entire Strip to send the message that there is no stability without it… and the movement is laying the groundwork for a civil war in Gaza,” Palestinian Security Forces spokesperson Anwar Rajab told Al-Arabiya.
The Doghmush family is one of Gaza’s most prominent clans and has long maintained a tense relationship with Hamas, with its armed members clashing with the terrorist group on multiple occasions.
Mohammed Mansour Dughmush, a member of the clan, said Hamas was targeting his family over fears that it could join a post-war security force in the enclave, in which the Palestinian terrorist group would hold no governing role under the terms of the ceasefire deal.
As seen in previous years, Doghmush said Hamas was targeting Gaza’s largest families to prevent any challenge to its authority.
These latest clashes erupted in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of southern Gaza City after more than 300 Hamas fighters moved in to take control of several buildings within a residential block.
“This time people weren’t fleeing Israeli attacks,” one resident told the BBC. “They were running from their own people.”
Just hours after a ceasefire was announced to end a two-year conflict, Hamas mobilized its forces and set up security checkpoints across the territory, clashing with rival groups and persecuting Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.
As Hamas moved to regain control over areas recently vacated by Israeli troops, the group released the rest of the living Israeli hostages it was holding in captivity, under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Under the deal, Israel agreed to release 1,950 Palestinian security prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences for deadly terrorist attacks, as well as 1,700 Palestinians arrested since Oct. 7, 2023.
The prisoners were to be freed before the return of the 28 remaining dead hostages, only four of whom were returned on Monday.
Following phase one of the deal, Hamas is supposed to disarm and have no future leadership role in Gaza, according to US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan. However, disarmament and other unresolved issues will be subject to negotiations.
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Pope Leo Says Those Who Wage War Are Thieves Stealing Away Our Peaceful Future
Pope Leo XIV looks on as he meets with Catholic religious education teachers attending a national meeting organised by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, April 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Pope Leo on Sunday described those who wage wars and appropriate the earth’s resources as thieves who rob the world of a peaceful future, issuing a warning about the use of nuclear power on the anniversary of the Chernobyl reactor accident.
Ukraine is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster on Sunday amid lingering fears that Russia’s four-year-old war could spark a repeat of the tragedy.
In his weekly address after the Angelus prayer, the Pontiff said the Chernobyl accident had left a mark on humankind’s collective conscience.
“It remains a warning over the use of ever more powerful technologies,” the Pope, who has just returned from a 10-day tour across four African nations, said.
“I hope that at all decision-making levels, wisdom and responsibility always prevail, so that atomic power can always be used to support life and peace,” he added.
Commenting on the Gospel of the day, which contained the metaphor of a sheep thief, Pope Leo said thieves came under many appearances, listing as examples “superficial lifestyles driven by consumerism,” prejudices and wrong ideas.
“And let’s not forget also those thieves who, by plundering the earth’s resources, by fighting bloody wars or feeding evil in whichever form, are simply taking away from all of us the chance of a future of peace and serenity,” he added.
Leo, the first US pontiff, has attracted the ire of President Donald Trump after becoming more outspoken against war and despotism.
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UK’s Starmer and Trump Discuss ‘Urgent Need’ to Restore Shipping in Strait of Hormuz
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump (not pictured) hold a bilateral meeting at Trump Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump discussed the urgent need to get shipping moving again in the Strait of Hormuz during a call on Sunday, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The leaders discussed the urgent need to get shipping moving again in the Strait of Hormuz, given the severe consequences for the global economy and cost of living for people in the UK and globally,” the spokesperson for Starmer’s office said in a statement.
“The prime minister shared the latest progress on his joint initiative with President (Emmanuel) Macron to restore freedom of navigation,” the spokesperson added.
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Palestinian Leader’s Loyalists Win Local Elections, Including Some Seats in Gaza
A Palestinian man votes during the municipal election at a polling station in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip April 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas won most races in Palestinian municipal elections, election officials said on Sunday, in a vote that for the first time in nearly two decades included a city in the Gaza Strip run by rival Hamas.
Saturday’s ballot marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian polls since the Gaza war began more than two years ago with Hamas’ cross‑border attack on southern Israel.
Abbas’ West Bank–based Palestinian Authority (PA) said the inclusion of the Gaza city Deir al‑Balah, which suffered less damage than other areas of the coastal territory during the war, was intended to show that Gaza was an inseparable part of a future Palestinian state.
The elections, in which voter turnout was low, had been held “at a highly sensitive moment amid complex challenges and exceptional circumstances,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said as results were announced on Sunday.
But they represented “an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life … and ultimately achieving the unity of the homeland,” he said.
POSSIBLE INDICATOR OF HAMAS SUPPORT
Hamas, which ousted the PA from Gaza in 2007, did not formally nominate candidates in Gaza and boycotted the race in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Fatah’s victory was widely expected.
But some candidates on one of the Deir al-Balah lists were widely seen by residents and analysts as aligned with the movement, making the vote a potential indicator of support for the Islamist group.
Preliminary results showed that the list, known as Deir al‑Balah Brings Us Together, won only two of the 15 seats contested in Gaza.
The Nahdat Deir al‑Balah list, backed by Abbas’ Fatah party and the Western-backed PA, secured six seats. The remaining seats were won by two other Gaza-based groups, Future of Deir al‑Balah and Peace and Building, not affiliated with either faction.
Abbas loyalists swept the election in the West Bank, running unchallenged in many seats.
Fatah spokesperson Abdul Fattah Dawla noted that turnout was close to that for the last municipal elections in the West Bank, in 2022, praising voters for participating despite ongoing violence by Israel.
“By electing figures linked to Fatah, voters appear to be seeking unrestricted international support for municipal governance and a gradual political shift that could extend beyond the local level,” said Palestinian political analyst Reham Ouda.
The recent war has left much of Gaza reduced to rubble, with many residents displaced and focused on survival. Israel has continued conducting strikes despite an October ceasefire.
In Gaza, voter turnout reached just 23 percent, while in the West Bank it was 56 percent, according to Chairman of the Central Elections Commission Rami al‑Hamdallah.
Al‑Hamdallah said some of the ballot boxes and voting equipment did not make it into the enclave because of Israeli security restrictions, though those challenges were overcome.
Hamas’ Gaza spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the significance of the election results, saying that they had no impact on wider national issues.