Violence broke out in Gaza this week as a shaky ceasefire with Israel took effect across the narrow enclave. Hamas leaders have led a stringent security crackdown over the past few days — battling local clans that have tried to take over different areas during the war. The militant group also publicly executed several Palestinians on Monday after branding them as ‘collaborators and outlaws’. These developments came even as US President Donald Trump insisted that the group must disarm or be forcibly disarmed in the near future.
Videos that have since gone viral on social media show eight badly beaten men blindfolded and kneeling in the street before they were shot dead. The gunmen wore green headbands typically associated with Hamas, and the group later claimed in a statement that the victims were “criminals and collaborators with Israel”. The video was authenticated by Reuters and other news agencies. Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the public executions — calling the killings a crime and a “blatant violation of human rights”.
Several other Palestinian factions present in Gaza have however backed the days-long Hamas security crackdown as it battles local clans that had tried to take over areas of the territory during the conflict. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of the groups backing the Hamas crackdown, described the clans being targeted as “hubs of crime”.
The ceasefire envisaged Hamas initially restoring order in Gaza and U.S. President Donald Trump who brokered the deal endorsed Hamas’ crackdown on rival gangs, while warning it would face airstrikes if it did not later disarm. Later phases of the truce call for Hamas to disarm and cede power, which it has so far refused to do. Israeli forces inside Gaza have pulled back to what the truce deal calls a yellow line just outside the main cities. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said it would immediately enforce any violation of the line.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday night.
Longer-term elements of the ceasefire plan including how Gaza will be governed, the make-up of an international force to take over there and moves towards the creation of a Palestinian state have yet to emerge.
Twenty-one bodies of hostages remain in Gaza, though some may be very hard to find or recover because of destruction during the conflict. An international task force is meant to find them. The deal also requires Israel to return the bodies of 360 Palestinian militants killed in battle. The first group of 45 was handed over on Tuesday and were being identified, said Palestinian health authorities.