Hamas tightened its control over Gaza’s devastated cities on Tuesday, executing suspected collaborators and clashing with rival clans, even as U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to disarm the militant group under a newly brokered peace framework. The developments came amid a fragile U.S.-mediated truce between Hamas and Israel following weeks of violence.
The Israeli military said the remains of four more hostages had been brought back from Gaza, a day after Hamas released the final 20 surviving captives and handed over the bodies of four others. Hamas also released a video on its official channel showing the street execution of eight blindfolded men accused of collaborating with Israel. The footage, apparently filmed Monday night, showed the suspects kneeling before being shot by masked militants.
Witnesses said armed clashes broke out in several parts of the territory between Hamas’s security units and armed Palestinian clans. The fighting, which continued into Tuesday morning, was concentrated in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, an area near the Israeli military’s current frontline. “We heard intense gunfire and explosions,” said one resident, who gave his name as Mohammed. “The security forces arrested several people. We support this.”
A Palestinian security official confirmed that a new Hamas unit, known as the “Deterrence Force,” had been deployed to conduct what he called “field operations to ensure security and stability.” He said the group’s mission was to eliminate lawlessness and suppress elements accused of cooperating with Israel.
The executions and crackdown marked Hamas’s renewed assertion of control following Israel’s partial withdrawal from northern Gaza. In Gaza City, masked Hamas police were seen patrolling the streets for the first time since the ceasefire began. When busloads of prisoners freed from Israeli jails arrived on Monday, members of Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades managed the crowds and provided security.
The violence came as President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas must surrender its weapons as a condition for long-term peace. Netanyahu said the U.S. plan for Gaza was “very clear,” requiring “demilitarization and disarmament” after the hostages’ release. “First, Hamas has to give up its arms, and second, you want to make sure there are no weapons factories or smuggling routes into Gaza,” he told CBS News.
Trump, who recently returned from the Middle East after celebrating the ceasefire, said Hamas members who voluntarily decommission their weapons would be granted amnesty. “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” he told reporters at the White House. “And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.”
The 20-point U.S. plan, endorsed at a summit in Egypt on Monday, envisions a demilitarized Gaza governed by local civilians without any Hamas leadership involvement. For many residents, however, the reappearance of Hamas’s police forces brought a measure of reassurance amid the ruins. “After the war ended and the police spread out in the streets, we started to feel safe,” said Abu Fadi Al-Banna, a 34-year-old resident of Deir al-Balah. Another displaced resident, Hamdiya Shammiya, said she finally felt “able to breathe again” after fleeing northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, in Israel, families of hostages gathered in Tel Aviv to mourn those whose remains had been recovered and to demand the return of others still held in Gaza. The Israeli military identified two of the returned dead as Guy Iluz and Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese agriculture student, while the Families Forum later named the others as Yossi Sharabi and Daniel Peretz, an Israeli army officer. “Now we can finally bring closure to the nightmare that began over two years ago,” said Nira Sharabi, Yossi’s widow.
As celebrations for the surviving hostages took place, demonstrators called for continued pressure on Hamas. “I didn’t think we’d reach this day where all the living hostages would return,” said protester Barak Cohen in Tel Aviv. “But still, I see great difficulties in bringing back the remaining dead.”
The situation in Gaza remains tense as the fragile ceasefire holds. While Hamas seeks to consolidate its power internally, international attention has turned to how Trump’s plan for Gaza’s demilitarization—and potential U.S.-led enforcement—will reshape the postwar order.
