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2025 Hamas-Doghmush conflict | |||||||
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Part of Gaza war, the October 2025 Gaza war ceasefire | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() ![]() | Dogmush clan | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Izz al-Din al-Haddad | Unknown | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Unknown | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
7,000+ militants | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
12 militants killed | 52 militants killed 60 militants arrested 8 executed | ||||||
1 journalist killed |
In October 2025, following a ceasefire that paused the Gaza war, Hamas redeployed 7,000 militants to assert control over the Gaza Strip, reportedly arresting dozens of suspected collaborators and anti-Hamas clan members, with executions expected. The Doghmush clan had opposed Hamas in the past, with a 2008 siege on a compound in Sabra that left 11 dead, resulting from a clan member who had killed a police officer. [2] Violent clashes erupted in October 2025 when Hamas forces attacked the Doghmush stronghold in Tel al-Hawa, leading to heavy fighting and civilian casualties, with both sides accusing each other of instigating the violence.
Since taking control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has carried out multiple executions of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel. [3] [4] The accused collaborators are typically tried in Hamas-run military courts, and sentences have included public hangings and shootings. [3] Human rights groups have condemned these executions as amounting to war crimes, as being extrajudicial and a violation of the right to fair trial. [3] [4] Hamas publicly presents these actions as necessary to maintain security and deter others from collaborating with Israel, [5] In September 2025, three Palestinian men accused of collaboration with Israel were executed on the streets of Gaza in order to send a strong deterrent message. [5]
According to sources in Gaza, on October 11, 2025, hours after US president Donald Trump's plan went into effect, Hamas began redeploying its military presence in areas from which the Israeli army withdrew, recalling approximately 7000 militants to assert control over the territory. [6] [7] Hamas interior ministry claimed the conduction of field campaigns to locate and arrest collaborateurs and informants. [8] In this context, Jerusalem Post reported that journalist and expert on Palestinian affairs Khaled Abu Toameh wrote on a social media post that "Hamas security forces have arrested dozens of suspected collaborators and anti-Hamas clan members since the ceasefire went into effect. Many are expected to be executed, according to Palestinian sources". [9] The group as an attempt to re-establish it's order appointed five new governors, some of them reportedly being brigade commanders in Qassem-Brigades before. [10]
The Doghmush clan emigrated from Turkey and established themselves in Gaza during the 20th century, eventually gaining control over parts of Sabra and Tel al-Hawa districts. [11] The clan, belonging to Fatah and allegedly also linked to al-Qaeda, [11] has historically been involved in high-profile kidnappings, including those of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 and British journalist Alan Johnston in 2007, [11] as well as violent clashes with Hamas over power and control in the Gaza strip. [11] However, the clan has also had a long and violent history with Hamas. In 2008 Hamas raided a number of Doghmush held positions and killed multiple clan members. [11]
In March 2024, news articles published the claim that Saleh Doghmush, leader of the Doghmush clan, had been killed by Hamas, with the stated motive of punishing collaboration. [12] The family denied this, responding by releasing a statement that Saleh Doghmush had been killed by an Israeli airstrike on November 16, 2023. [13] Hamas media officials also denied the claim. [14] In a post listing casualties in the neighborhood of Sabra published on X in December 2023, Saleh Doghmush's name appears at the top of the list. [15]
Hamas has repeatedly accused the Doghmush clan of collaborating and negotiating with Israel during the Gaza genocide. [16] [17] In June 2025, Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel armed anti-Hamas clans and militias in Gaza (notably Yasser Abu Shabab's Popular Forces), but the Doghmush clan was not specifically named. [18] A senior source in Gaza's Ministry of Interior told Al Jazeera that the Doghmush militia members involved in the clashes had ties to Israel. [19] However, some other reports from Gaza dispute this connection. [20] Nizar Doghmush, head of the family in Gaza, acknowledged that during the first months of the war, Israel had contacted him to manage a "humanitarian zone", but stated the family refused involvement with either Israel or Hamas, [20] [21] and indicated that the family then became targets for Israeli bombings and raids in late 2023 [22] as retaliation for his refusal. [23]
Conversely, the Doghmush clan has accused Hamas of exploiting the ceasefire with Israel to target its members who resisted Hamas' attempts to monopolize authority in the region. [11]
In October 2025, violent clashes erupted in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in southern Gaza City when Hamas forces launched a large-scale assault on the Doghmush clan’s strongholds in the area. [11]
According to Hamas, the clashes followed an ambush by Doghmush fighters on Hamas operatives, which resulted in the killing of two elite Hamas members, one being the son of senior commander Basem Naim, and the injuring of five others. [7]
On Sunday, October 12, 2025, [6] Hamas gunmen surrounded Doghmush fighters near the Jordanian hospital in Gaza city and engaged in a heavy firefight. [7] According to eyewitness reports, the clashes began when a Hamas force numbering more than 300, attempted to storm a residential area where Doghmush clan members were located. [7] The ensuing battle caused dozens of families to flee the their homes under heavy gunfire. [7] The Hamas-run interior ministry stated that the advance on the compound was meant to restore order, though a member of the Doghmush clan stated that the clan had taken refuge in the building, which had previously served the Jordanian hospital, [17] after their homes in the al-Sabra neighborhood were destroyed during the Gaza war, and Hamas sought to evict them in order to establish a new base for its own forces in the area. [7]
The attack caused panic and chaos among residents, [11] with one civillian stating that "this time people weren't fleeing Israeli attacks. they were running from their own people". [7] The Independent has quoted members of the clan as saying "Children are screaming and dying, they are burning our houses", as well as "they arrested all the youths, lined them up against walls, pointed weapons at their heads. There is a massacre here". [17] According to al-Mashhad , it was reported that members of the military wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, were firing indiscriminately at the homes of the Doghmush clan in the Sabra neighborhood. [24]
Following the attack, Hamas issued an ultimatum, according to which all militia members and criminals not directly involved in the fighting must surrender by Sunday, 19 October 2025, otherwise they will face "severe punishment". [11]
One report states that at least 64 people died in the fighting, including 52 Doghmush fighters and 12 Hamas militants, [11] [17] though other sources have reported at least 27 deaths, 19 of whom belong to the Doghmush clan and 8 to Hamas. [7] Each side of the conflict accused the other for the triggering of the clashes. [7] The Hamas-run interior ministry accused the local militia of attacking its security forces, while members of the Dughmush clan claimed that Hamas had used the ceasefire as a pretext to target them over alleged collaboration with Israel
Among the fatalities was also Palestinian journalist Saleh Al-Jafrawi, who was shot while covering the conflict and was found dead in the back of a truck, still wearing his press vest. [11]
Palestinian media later reported of the arrest of 60 members of the clan through Hamas forces, which brought them for interrogation into "security facilities". [25]
On 14 October, footage emerged that appeared to show Hamas militants carrying out a summary execution of at least eight people whose arms are tied behind their backs. Hamas said in a statement, that the people executed were "criminals and collaborators with Israel". In a Facebook post a member of the Doghmush clan said the executions were a "criminal" act. [26] [27]