Not a big surprise
Hamas Turns Its Guns Inward: 7,000 Fighters Mobilized as Gaza Teeters on Brink of Civil War
According to a BBC report, Hamas has mobilized roughly 7,000 operatives from its military wing to restore its full control over the Gaza Strip. The group has reportedly appointed five new “governors” to lead Gaza’s five districts, a direct violation of earlier commitments to transfer authority to a neutral technocratic committee as part of the ceasefire framework.
Hamas has recalled around 7,000 members of its security forces to reassert control over areas of Gaza recently vacated by Israeli troops, according to local sources cited by the BBC. The Palestinian group has also appointed five new governors, all with military backgrounds, several of whom previously commanded brigades in its armed wing.
The mobilization order was reportedly sent via phone calls and text messages instructing members to report within 24 hours to “cleanse Gaza of outlaws and collaborators with Israel.” Armed Hamas units have since been seen deployed across multiple districts, some in civilian clothing and others in the blue uniforms of Gaza’s police.
Tensions escalated sharply after two members of Hamas’s elite forces were shot dead by gunmen from the powerful Dughmush clan in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood. One of the victims was the son of a senior commander in Hamas’s military intelligence, Imad Aqel. Their bodies were left in the street, prompting outrage and fears of a major armed reprisal.
Hamas fighters later surrounded an area where over 300 Dughmush gunmen were believed to be holed up, armed with machine guns and improvised explosives. By morning, Hamas had killed one clan member and reportedly kidnapped another 30. Some of the clan’s weapons were believed to have been looted from Hamas depots during the war, while others were longstanding stockpiles.
The mobilisation had been widely anticipated amid growing uncertainty over who will govern Gaza once the war ends — a critical issue that could complicate the next phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which calls for Hamas to disarm.
A Hamas official abroad declined to confirm the new deployments but told the BBC: “We cannot leave Gaza at the mercy of thieves and militias backed by the Israeli occupation. Our weapons are legitimate… to resist occupation, and they will remain as long as the occupation continues.”
A retired Palestinian Authority security officer expressed fears of a slide toward renewed internal bloodshed. “Hamas hasn’t changed. It still believes that weapons and violence are the only means to keep its movement alive,” he said, warning that Gaza was now “flooded with arms” — many looted during the war or supplied from external sources.
“This is a perfect recipe for civil war: weapons, frustration, chaos, and a movement desperate to reassert control over a shattered and exhausted population,” he added.
Human rights expert Khalil Abu Shammala said widespread fear was spreading among Gazans over the possibility of internal fighting. “There is undoubtedly widespread fear among many Gazans of potential internal fighting, given the many conditions that could fuel it,” he said, adding that Hamas’s efforts to maintain its influence could “jeopardise the agreement and plunge Gaza’s residents into even greater suffering.”
These developments, coming just days after the ceasefire took effect, have deepened anxiety in Gaza, a territory already exhausted by two years of devastating conflict.