Hamas moves to re-establish primacy with executions, street fights

There is normally little time for celebration in Middle East politics given the complexity of issues that bedevil the region. And so it is with the Gazan peace agreement. The legitimate joy felt by the families of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas during their October terrorist attack must also share space with concern over the post-peace agreement actions by Hamas, who are trying to establish their own order in those parts of Gaza vacated by the Israeli military.

Hamas had previously used social media to show its members executing alleged Israeli collaborators in public. And reports emerged of a deadly clash the day before the hostage handover between Hamas and members of the Doghmush clan that led to the deaths of 27 people. Israel armed some Palestinian groups in Gaza to support their operational aims, including to foment disunity amongst Palestinian ranks. The Doghmush clan denies links to Israel, although it is hard to definitively confirm or deny these claims given the murky nature of intra-Gazan politics.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲.
Footage from the 𝐒𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 shows brutal clashes between Hamas forces and members of the Doghmush family clan—a powerful local group long at odds with Hamas’ control.
Reports suggest more than 40 Doghmush members were… pic.twitter.com/0W0KqQKfsY

— Israel MyChannel (@IsraelMychannel) October 12, 2025

What is apparent is that Hamas is moving quickly to try to re-establish their primacy within Gaza as far as possible, as quickly as possible. With the Israeli withdrawal there is a security vacuum that Hamas is trying to fill, and for the time being at least it appears to have the presidential seal of approval.

President Trump’s 20-point plan stated that “The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilisation Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza,” however details surrounding the composition, remit and deployment date of the force remain unclear. Asked by a journalist about the reports of Hamas operating in Gaza and staging public executions, Trump said that “(Hamas) want to stop the problems, and they’ve been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time.”

The fear is of course that the longer that Hamas has to re-establish itself as the local security guarantor in Gaza, the more difficult will be the task confronting the International Stabilisation Force who will presumably be tasked with the decommissioning of weapons and destruction of weapons production facilities and tunnels called for in the peace agreement. Of course the influx of aid and development money for reconstruction means that there should be a massive need for labour to rebuild civil society.

Palestinian militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades stand guard next to a crowd watching the transfer of released Israeli hostages to the Red Cross this week. Picture: AFP.

As a consequence the mass un- and under-employment that characterised pre-conflict blockaded Gaza and that provided a massive pool of recruits for a Palestinian group like Hamas may, for a time at least, be replaced with an economically vibrant society. But even if the boom in labour does come to pass, it does not necessarily follow that Hamas will wither on the vine. Few Gazans will have been left untouched by two years of the Israeli military campaign, and the type of militant Palestinian nationalism that Hamas offers may continue to attract adherents, rather than the traditional nationalist approach offered by the Palestinian Authority or other secular groups that may emerge.

There is little indication that Hamas’s rivals and opponents are of sufficient strength to challenge its authority. So the prospects of anything approaching a civil war are remote. But the longer it takes for any international security force to be raised and deployed, the more time Hamas will have to create realities on the ground that such a force will find it difficult to alter.

Hamas also understands that, even though it has been dramatically degraded and its actions have caused great suffering to Gazans, it survived. And in the complex terrain of Middle East politics, surviving is simply one phase of the longer struggle.

One thing is for sure – the day after the joy of the hostage release, the international community still has to deal with the realities of a society massively damaged by two years of war. We all hope for the best, but in the Middle East it is always best to prepare to be disappointed. Even President Trump acknowledged the reality of Gaza’s future when he said: “So we want it to be – we want it to be safe. I think it’s going to be fine. Who knows for sure.”