Dozens of people were killed or wounded on Friday when Hamas fighters clashed with members of a powerful clan allied with the rival Fatah movement in the southern Gaza Strip, residents and medical sources said.
The pre-dawn fighting erupted in Khan Younis after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed homes in the Majayda quarter, a stronghold of the al-Majayda clan whose members are largely affiliated with Fatah.
Witnesses said at least 250 armed men, carrying light and medium weapons, took part in the assault.
Accounts of casualties varied, but sources on both sides confirmed deaths among Hamas fighters and clan members. A man from the al-Majayda family was fatally shot while receiving treatment in the Nasser hospital after being wounded in the raid, relatives said.
The confrontation marked the latest flare-up in a feud that began two months ago when Hamas men allegedly shot and wounded a member of the clan in Khan Younis, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The man later died, prompting al-Majayda gunmen to kidnap two Hamas members, one of whom served as a bodyguard to Yahya Sinwar, the group’s former political chief.
The feud escalated further last month when al-Majayda fighters killed two members of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades, and seized their weapons, according to Hamas officials. The clan refused demands to hand over suspects to Hamas security forces, leaving tensions simmering.
Friday’s raid by Hamas targeted al-Majayda men accused of involvement in those killings, residents said. At least two clan members were killed when their house was stormed, along with others from the extended family. Hamas also reported losing two fighters, including a field commander in Qassam.
As the battle raged, Israeli warplanes struck the area, killing at least 16 Hamas fighters and civilians, as well as two more al-Majayda family members, local medical sources said.
Israel has not commented on the strike.
Both sides also took captives, sources said, with reports later of an exchange of bodies and detainees brokered by other clans and community figures.
The violence underscored Gaza’s deteriorating security situation amid Israel’s ongoing war in the enclave. Armed clans and criminal groups have grown increasingly active, looting aid, clashing with Hamas and even raiding hospitals, residents and rights groups say.
Hamas has vowed to crush such groups, carrying out raids in recent months that killed clan fighters and executed suspected collaborators with Israel.
