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A minimum of 27 people have been killed in fierce clashes between Hamas security forces and armed members of the Dughmush family in the Gaza urban area, marking a particularly severe internal confrontations since the cessation of large-scale Israeli military actions in the region.

Disguised Hamas gunmen exchanged fire with family militants near the city's medical facility, according to observers.

Official Report

A high-ranking officer in the interior ministry under Hamas stated that security forces surrounded them and entered fierce battles to capture them. The ministry reported that eight of its personnel were lost in "a violent offensive by a militia".

Hospital representatives confirmed that 19 Dughmush family fighters and 8 Hamas fighters had been fatally injured since violence erupted on the weekend.

Local Testimonies

Local residents reported that the confrontations broke out in the Tel al-Hawa area in southern Gaza City after a Hamas contingent of 300+ combatants moved to storm a apartment building where Dughmush fighters were fortified.

Civilians described scenes of panic as many residents fled their homes under heavy gunfire, with numerous individuals having been relocated repeatedly during the war.

"This time people weren't fleeing Israeli offensives," a local inhabitant stated. "They were escaping from their fellow Palestinians."

Existing Tensions

The Dughmush family, among Gaza's notable families, has long had a strained relationship with Hamas, and its armed members have clashed with the movement on numerous times in the past.

The Hamas-controlled interior ministry stated its personnel were seeking to restore order, alerting that "every paramilitary operation outside the framework of the Palestinian resistance" would be addressed decisively.

Contradictory Narratives

Each faction exchanged blame over who was responsible for instigating the violence.

Hamas earlier said that Dughmush militants killed two its militants and hurt five additional members, resulting in the movement to initiate an action against them.

Conversely, a Dughmush family representative told local media that Hamas forces had come to a building that formerly operated as the Jordanian Hospital, where the clan had sought shelter after their homes in the al-Sabra district were devastated in the previous Israeli assault.

The source claimed that the authority attempted to remove the family from the building to set up a fresh headquarters for its units there.

Wider Context

Hamas has reactivated around 7,000 fighters of its security forces to reinforce authority over Gaza regions recently vacated by Israeli troops, according to area informants.

Information indicates that Hamas combat groups have already deployed across several districts, with certain members in plain attire and additional elements in the blue attire of the Gaza law enforcement. The Hamas communication department rejected that it was stationing combatants in urban zones.