As the ceasefire in Gaza holds, Hamas has continued to exert extreme influence over the enclave, cracking down on any threat to its authority.
As Gazans seek to return home, Hamas has tightened its grip, engaging in gun battles with clans and gangs, dispatching black-masked security forces to patrol what’s left of the streets and conducting crowd control.
On Tuesday Hamas uploaded a video to its official media channel featuring the execution of eight individuals it accused of being “collaborators and outlaws.”
All eight — kneeling, bound and blindfolded — were shot in the head in the middle of the street as crowds looked on. The video was captioned: “The resistance carries out death penalties against a number of collaborators and outlaws in the city of Gaza.”
The killings were condemned by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who called them “heinous.”
Germany’s Foreign Ministry called them an “act of terror” against the Palestinian people.
Others inside Gaza as well as in Washington voiced a more forgiving tone, noting that Gaza is also home to no small number of powerful, well-armed criminal clans.
US President Donald Trump, for instance, said, “They did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad… and they killed a number of gang members … that didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you.”
Trump has said Hamas must disarm but also said the group would be allowed to police for “a period of time.”
Hamas accuses some of the groups it is fighting, such as the Doghmush clan and the Popular Front, of working in concert with Israel and says it will not lay down its arms until the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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