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A minimum of 27 lives have been lost in violent confrontations between Hamas fighters and armed members of the Dughmush tribe in Gaza City, marking a particularly severe internal clashes since the end of extensive Israeli campaigns in the territory.

Masked Hamas militants engaged in shooting with tribal combatants near the city's medical facility, according to witnesses.

Ministry Report

A senior official in the Hamas-controlled interior ministry stated that armed units blockaded them and participated in intense combat to capture them. The department reported that eight its personnel were lost in "an armed assault by a paramilitary force".

Hospital representatives confirmed that nineteen Dughmush tribe militants and eight Hamas fighters had been killed since fighting began on recently.

Local Reports

Eyewitnesses reported that the violence erupted in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in southern Gaza City after a Hamas force of more than 300 fighters proceeded to assault a apartment building where Dughmush militants were fortified.

Civilians described scenes of panic as dozens of families fled their homes under heavy gunfire, with a significant number having been displaced multiple times during the conflict.

"In this instance residents weren't escaping Israeli offensives," a local inhabitant stated. "They were running from members of their community."

Long-Standing Strain

The Dughmush tribe, a significant Gaza family, has consistently experienced a strained relationship with Hamas, and its fighter elements have engaged in violence with the organization on several occasions in the earlier periods.

The Hamas-controlled interior ministry declared its units were working to reinstate stability, alerting that "all militant actions beyond the structure of the Palestinian resistance" would be dealt with firmly.

Contradictory Narratives

Both sides exchanged blame over who initiated the violence for starting the conflict.

Hamas previously stated that Dughmush militants fatally wounded two its militants and injured five others, leading to the movement to launch an operation against them.

Conversely, a Dughmush family representative told local media that Hamas units had arrived at a facility that previously functioned as the Jordanian healthcare facility, where the tribe had sought shelter after their residences in the al-Sabra neighbourhood were demolished in the recent Israeli attack.

The source alleged that the authority sought to evict the tribe from the structure to establish a new base for its personnel there.

Wider Situation

Hamas has mobilized approximately 7,000 personnel of its security units to reassert control over Gaza regions formerly abandoned by Israeli troops, according to area informants.

Accounts reveal that Hamas combat groups have already deployed across several districts, with some wearing civilian clothes and the remainder in the blue uniforms of the Gaza law enforcement. The Hamas communication department denied that it was stationing combatants in urban zones.