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A minimum of 27 individuals have been killed in fierce exchanges between Hamas armed units and armed members of the Dughmush family in Gaza City, marking a particularly severe internal confrontations since the end of extensive Israeli campaigns in the territory.

Concealed Hamas gunmen engaged in shooting with family militants near the city's Jordanian hospital, according to witnesses.

Official Account

A top authority in the Hamas-run interior ministry stated that armed units surrounded them and engaged in heavy fighting to detain them. The department reported that eight its members were fatally wounded in "an armed assault by a militia".

Medical sources confirmed that 19 Dughmush family fighters and eight Hamas militants had been lost their lives since conflict started on the weekend.

Eyewitness Reports

Eyewitnesses reported that the clashes erupted in the Tel al-Hawa district in the southern part of Gaza City after a Hamas contingent of 300+ combatants moved to storm a residential block where Dughmush gunmen were entrenched.

Civilians described frightening moments as dozens of families escaped their dwellings under sustained firearm exchanges, with many of them having been relocated repeatedly during the hostilities.

"In this instance people weren't fleeing Israeli attacks," a local inhabitant stated. "They were running from their fellow Palestinians."

Existing Conflict

The Dughmush clan, one of Gaza's most prominent clans, has long had a strained relationship with the ruling movement, and its militant members have confronted the movement on several occasions in the previous years.

The Hamas-controlled interior ministry declared its personnel were working to reinstate stability, warning that "any armed activity not within the system of the Palestinian resistance" would be dealt with firmly.

Contradictory Narratives

Both sides leveled charges over who was responsible for instigating the violence.

The movement earlier said that Dughmush gunmen eliminated two its militants and injured five others, leading to the organization to launch an operation against them.

Conversely, a Dughmush clan insider informed Palestinian outlets that Hamas fighters had arrived at a facility that formerly operated as the Jordanian medical center, where the tribe had found sanctuary after their homes in the al-Sabra district were destroyed in the latest Israeli offensive.

The representative asserted that the authority tried to expel the tribe from the structure to create a different command center for its forces there.

Wider Background

Hamas has recalled about 7,000 members of its security units to reinforce authority over Gaza territories formerly abandoned by Israeli forces, according to local sources.

Accounts reveal that Hamas combat groups have been stationed across multiple areas, with certain members in plain attire and additional elements in the blue gear of the Gaza police. The Hamas media office denied that it was positioning militants in public areas.