In the Sabra neighbourhood of southern Gaza City, the first morning of the truce did not bring the calm that residents had hoped for.
After two years of Israel’s genocidal war and relentless bombardments, Palestinians expected to wake up to silence. Instead, the crackle of gunfire once again echoed through the narrow streets.
Within hours of the ceasefire's start, an armed confrontation erupted between members of Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades and militants from the powerful Doghmush family, one of Gaza's most influential clans and long intertwined with the city's tribal and militant fabric.
The spark, according to local sources, came from the killing of two al-Qassam fighters near the Jordanian field hospital in Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in west Gaza City, one of them the son of prominent Hamas commander Imad Aqel.
Competing narratives quickly surfaced. The Aqel family accused Doghmush gunmen of ambushing their son "in a treacherous attack," demanding that Hamas security forces "act decisively and without leniency".
The Doghmush family's account was starkly different. Mohammed Doghmush told The New Arab that members of his family had sought refuge in the Jordanian hospital after their homes were destroyed. An al-Qassam unit entered, ordering them to evacuate.
When his cousin asked, "Where are we supposed to go?" a fighter reportedly replied, "To a disaster".
The exchange escalated into an armed clash that left two men dead, and reignited old rivalries buried beneath the rubble of war.
Over the following days, the confrontation spiralled. Doghmush elders refused to hand over those accused, insisting on resolving the matter through tribal mediation, according to various sources, some within the family.
Hamas, however, treated the defiance as a direct challenge to its post-war authority. The movement responded with a large-scale campaign led by the newly established Resistance Security Force, a group including fighters from Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Interior Ministry's units, according to a security source in Gaza.
The neighbourhoods of al-Sabra and Tel al-Hawa were soon sealed off. Residents described their neighbourhoods as "a battlefield".
"I saw masked men dragging three young men into the street […] They were forced to kneel. Seconds later, shots rang out. There were no arrests, no trials, only bullets," a resident from al-Sabra, who preferred to remain anonymous, told TNA.
By the time the guns fell silent, he claimed that around twenty Doghmush family members had been killed, alongside six Hamas security personnel. Dozens more were injured.
"Homes were torched, and fear returned to Gaza’s streets under a new name: internal security. Israel is the only winner in this military chaos," the resident said.
Security or subjugation?
The clashes in al-Sabra were not an isolated incident. Similar confrontations flared across Gaza's devastated landscape as Hamas began reestablishing control in areas vacated by Israeli troops.
In Khan Younis, for instance, a fierce battle broke out between Hamas's Arrow Force and members of the Al-Majayda clan, who were accused of looting aid and weapons.
Speaking to TNA, local eyewitnesses said the firefight lasted for twelve hours, during which heavy weapons were used in densely populated areas.
"Twenty-eight people were killed, including two al-Qassam fighters who had joined their relatives," a member of the Al-Majayda clan told TNA.
"Some bodies lay on the streets for hours before anyone dared to retrieve them," another local said. Those who refused to surrender their weapons were executed on the spot, they added.
"This was not a fight against criminals. It was revenge. Our sons fought for resistance, and now they are called thieves and traitors. This is injustice in its rawest form," Abu Ahmed al-Majayda claimed to TNA.
Hamas, however, has defended its actions as necessary to prevent chaos in a security vacuum.
Mahmoud Merdawi, a senior Hamas leader, dismissed suggestions that the movement's agreement to form an independent post-war Palestinian committee of technocrats and experts to rule Gaza signals a weakening of its authority
"Anyone who thinks that the resistance's agreement to an independent Palestinian committee of technocrats and experts means allowing chaos to reign in the beloved Gaza Strip or allowing criminals to escape punishment is mistaken," Merdawi said in a press statement.
"Such people have failed to distinguish between preventing pretexts for external interference and abandoning responsibility for internal order," he added.
Abu Mustafa, a Hamas fighter, told TNA that the war left a vacuum in policing and governance, allowing some armed groups and clans to operate autonomously.
"These measures are essential to restore stability," he stressed.
Since the truce, Hamas has deployed over 7,000 fighters, security police, and al-Qassam members across Gaza.
Checkpoints dot major roads, and patrols sweep through refugee camps and city centres. Supporters call it "a return to normalcy." Critics call it "rule by the rifle".
Among ordinary Gazans, reactions are deeply divided. "What's happening is not just about enforcing order […] It's about consolidating one-party rule after the chaos of war," Emad Ahmed, a resident, told TNA.
"Without an independent judiciary or accountability mechanisms, what we are seeing are political punishments disguised as security operations," he said.
Abu Ahmed, a vegetable seller in Gaza City, said, "No one wants chaos, but what happened in Sabra was public execution, not justice".
Samiha, a Gaza City-based woman, defended the campaign as a painful necessity.
"We lost everything to collaborators and thieves," she said, adding that some residents viewed the executions as a form of justice after months of lawlessness.
The chaos was not limited to the clashes between Hamas and Gaza's clans. The recent killing of Saleh al-Jafarawi, a well-known social activist in Gaza, added to the tensions around clashes between Hamas members and local families.
Al-Jafarawi's body was transferred to the Baptist Hospital on Tuesday with multiple gunshot wounds, according to local medical sources.
Hamas accused armed members of the Doghmush family of being behind the killing, but the family has denied any involvement, saying their area had been under siege for three days, which made movement in or out impossible.
Observers say the incident reflects the growing uncertainty and competing claims that have accompanied the current wave of internal unrest in the Gaza Strip.
Between fear and fragmentation: Gaza's fraying social fabric
For many observers, the bloodshed is a grim echo of 2007, when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip through armed confrontation with Fatah.
"The approach is the same," Esmay Mansour, a Ramallah-based political analyst, told TNA.
"Back then, Hamas justified its violence as necessary to preserve unity. Now, after this devastating war, it is repeating the same mistake, using force to assert control over a traumatised and exhausted population."
Mansour believes the current campaign is not a short-term crackdown but "a systematic attempt to reshape power in Gaza".
He explains, "These executions and operations give an illusion of strength, but in reality, they weaken the moral and political legitimacy of the movement”.
Labelling critics as "defenders of collaborators" or "traitors" revives the same logic that Hamas once fought against, he warned.
"This mentality," he says, "creates fear rather than loyalty. It destroys trust, the very foundation of resistance."
Legal researcher Iyad Abdel Rahman shares this view, describing the campaign as "a struggle for control” more than a pursuit of justice.
"Using weapons in a broken society does not restore confidence. It sows terror and silences dissent. This is how social collapse begins," he told TNA.
Internationally, the scenes of field executions have sparked outrage. But in Washington, US President Donald Trump dismissed concerns, saying Hamas had killed “a couple of gangs that were very bad”. He added: “That didn't bother me much, to be honest with you.”
The remark drew condemnation from rights groups who said it offered "implicit cover" for extrajudicial killings and signalled a preference for "stability at any cost".
Gaza-based political analyst Ahed Farwana interprets these developments as part of Hamas's effort to restore its standing after reports of internal divisions and waning control during the war.
"The truce offered Hamas breathing space," he told TNA. "But instead of reconciliation, we're witnessing consolidation through fear. This may ensure short-term order but will deepen long-term resentment."
In the aftermath of these bloody confrontations, Gaza finds itself torn between the need for security and the demand for justice. Two years of war have left a shattered society where the line between resistance and repression grows increasingly blurred.
For Mansour, the path forward begins with self-reflection. "The war has left deep political and moral wounds - monopoly, corruption, accusations of treason, suppression of freedom," he said.
"We must move from the logic of revenge to that of dialogue. Hamas owes the people an apology for the scenes of public execution, and it must establish fair judicial mechanisms to restore trust," he added.
He concludes with a warning that resonates across Gaza's fractured landscape. "Internal violence doesn't build resistance. It destroys the very fabric that holds society together. We cannot confront the occupation while turning our guns on one another."
As Gaza’s streets try to recover from both external war and internal strife, one question remains unresolved: was Hamas's latest campaign a necessary act to restore order, or the reimposition of power through force?
For many in Gaza, the answer lies not in statements or slogans, but in the haunting silence that follows each gunshot.
Sally Ibrahim is a Palestinian reporter with The New Arab based in the Gaza Strip