N Prabhakaran Dubai: The suffering of the innocent in Gaza is unending. After the 'dance of destruction' (or rampage/devastation), w...
N Prabhakaran
Dubai: The suffering of the innocent in Gaza is unending. After the 'dance of destruction' (or rampage/devastation), when the Israeli forces withdrew, Hamas is now lining up ordinary people in the public street and shooting them dead.
Reports indicate that Hamas is carrying out widespread public executions as it desperately attempts to maintain control over the Gaza Strip. US President Donald Trump had warned that the group would be disarmed. Following a US-brokered ceasefire with Israel, Hamas clashed with other armed Palestinian clans to retain control of the Gaza Strip, and visuals of these brutal reprisal measures by Hamas have surfaced on social media.
Violent clashes between Hamas forces and the Dughmush clan in Gaza City resulted in the death of 27 people. This marks one of the deadliest internal confrontations since Israeli military operations ended.
Heavy gunfire erupted near the Jordanian Hospital after Hamas stormed a building where Dughmush fighters were sheltering. Families attempting to flee amid the intense firing caused panic and chaos. Hamas blames the clan for provoking the conflict, while the clan accuses Hamas of seizing their shelters.
With 7,000 Hamas forces recalled and armed units flooding the streets, Gaza is now facing a new, tense chapter of civil unrest and bloodshed amid the ruins of the previous war.
Video footage, believed to be from Monday evening, shows the execution of eight men whom Hamas branded as 'collaborators and outlaws' in the street. In the video, eight badly beaten men are seen blindfolded and kneeling in the street before being shot dead by gunmen wearing the green headbands associated with Hamas. Chants of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest in Arabic) can be heard from the crowd surrounding the bodies.
Hamas, in a statement without providing evidence, said the victims were 'criminals and collaborators with Israel'. Following the withdrawal of the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces), Hamas is rapidly trying to reassert control over Gaza by eliminating the 'clans', or family-based armed groups, that had gained strength during the conflict.
With the Gaza ceasefire holding, Hamas security forces have returned to the streets, clashing with other armed groups as part of an effort to restore control in areas from which Israeli troops have withdrawn. In the north of the territory, the Hamas government's black-masked armed police have resumed street patrols after Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza City. These forces had largely disappeared in recent months when Israeli forces seized large areas of Gaza and targeted Hamas security forces with airstrikes.
Powerful local families and armed gangs—including some anti-Hamas factions reportedly backed by Israel—had stepped into the vacuum. Many of these groups are accused of looting humanitarian aid and selling it for profit, which contributed to Gaza's starvation crisis.
Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza's private truckers union, told the Associated Press that Hamas was taking action against gangs that had terrorised people in areas controlled by Israel. "Those gangs looted aid and killed people under the protection of the (Israeli) occupation," he said, adding that they operated in so-called 'red zones' where Israel had ordered people to evacuate.
US President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that Hamas had eliminated 'a couple of gangs that were very bad' and killed a number of gang members. He reiterated his demand for Hamas to lay down its arms, warning, "They will disarm, and if they don't do so, we will disarm them, and it'll happen quickly and perhaps violently."
Trump declined to specify how the US would achieve this, and when asked about a deadline, he said it would be 'a reasonable period of time'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the war will not end until Hamas is dismantled. Furthermore, US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan demands that Hamas disarm and hand over power to an internationally supervised body that has yet to be formed.
Hamas has not fully accepted these terms, stating that more negotiations are needed. They are willing to transfer power to other Palestinians but insist they will not allow chaos to prevail during the transition. Israelis fear that as long as Hamas remains armed, it will exert influence in Gaza and could rebuild its military capabilities, even if an independent body holds nominal rule.
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