The clans are “substantial, influential players that control hundreds if not thousands of enforcers.”
(Oct. 19, 2025 / JNS) Mere hours after IDF soldiers pulled back from their front-line positions on Oct. 10, in accordance with the 20-point ceasefire deal, Hamas began consolidating power through a series of clashes and purges throughout the Gaza Strip.
Hamas moved quickly, mobilizing around 7,000 fighters on the first day of the ceasefire. In parallel, it quickly reestablished command and control capabilities and appointed five new governors over various districts of the Strip. Notably, the governors are not from Hamas’s political wing but are rather military field commanders from the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Soon after the mobilization, clashes broke out across the Gaza Strip, as Hamas sought to crush rival clans. Fighting was heavy across several neighborhoods of the Gaza Strip.