At least 12 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip over the past two days, in the latest clashes between the Islamist Hamas group that controls the territory and one of the strip’s powerful clans.
According to Hamas officials, security forces on Monday night attacked the compound of the Doghmosh clan, one of the biggest of the sprawling families that have traditionally dominated the politics of the Gaza Strip. The officers were responding to the killing of a Hamas police officer earlier that day, allegedly committed by one of the clan’s members.
Most of the victims of the overnight fighting were members of the Doghmosh clan, including a young girl who was killed by shrapnel. A Hamas police officer was also killed.
The clashes were the deadliest since a similar confrontation between Hamas and another influential Gaza family in July. While the Islamist group is reluctant to risk an all-out confrontation with the powerful and well-organised clans, it has made clear on several occasions that it will not tolerate rival powers in the strip, which it took over in June last year.
In practice this has meant Hamas’ security forces have inflicted a heavy price on families that have dared to defy the group’s demands, for example by failing to turn over gunmen wanted by Hamas. At the same time Hamas has also been careful not to let the fighting spiral out of control, and has stressed that it is not seeking conflict with the clans.
A Hamas police spokesman said on Tuesday that the officials had only tried to arrest wanted criminals. He said several of the men killed in the fighting were suspected of involvement in the abduction of Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held captive for four months in 2007.
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