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Dozens have been killed in Gaza during violent fighting Sunday and within hours of the expected release of hostages in the war-torn region, according to local reports.
The clashes between local militias also came ahead of a televised address in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the imminent hostage release “the beginning of a new path.”
The Israeli president had cautioned, “The campaign is not over. There are still very great security challenges ahead of us.”
Locals said gunfire had sent families fleeing in panic.
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“This time people weren’t fleeing Israeli attacks. They were running from their own people,” one witness told the BBC.
According to reports via Israeli outlet Ynet, the violence erupted when Hamas militants raided the neighborhood of Sabra in Gaza City, home to a clan called Doghmush, also known as the Al Doghmush family militia.
The report said the Hamas Interior Ministry had accused a militia of attacking its forces, while members of the Doghmush clan said Hamas had exploited the ceasefire to target them over alleged cooperation with Israel.
“Children are screaming and dying, they are burning our houses,” a relative of the clan told Ynet.
“We are trapped. I don’t know how they entered with all kinds of weapons. Where were they when the Jews were here? They arrested all the youths, lined them up against walls, pointed weapons at their heads. There is a massacre here,” another member said.
In total, Ynet reported 52 members of the Doghmush clan were killed and 12 Hamas militants were killed.
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Hamas’s television channel claimed that among those killed was blogger Salah al-Ja‘farawi, who reportedly celebrated the Oct. 7 attacks online. The terrorist-run station claimed the blogger was shot dead by “armed gangs operating outside the law” while covering the clashes.
Also killed was the son of senior Hamas official Basem Naim, according to reporting by the Jerusalem Post.
A senior clan member told Ynet, “We still say – you must not shed Muslim blood by a Muslim.”
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Hamas’s Interior and National Security Ministry later announced a “clemency framework” allowing militia members and criminals not involved in bloodshed to surrender by next Sunday, warning that those who do not comply will be “punished severely.”
Amid the bloodshed, three anti-Hamas militias publicly declared their support for President Trump’s peace proposal, rejecting Hamas’s authority in the Gaza Strip.
Israel said Hamas is expected to release 20 living hostages to the Red Cross by 5 a.m. Eastern (noon in Gaza) Monday.
The hostages are to be transported in six to eight vehicles under Red Cross supervision, and handed over to Israeli forces inside Gaza. They will then be driven to southern Israel to reunite with loved ones.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Israeli Government for comment.
