They blindfolded eight men accused of collaborating with Israel, made them kneel and executed them at point-blank range on a busy street in Gaza City. They sent jeeps filled with fighters to pursue the Astal militia, whose leader said it coordinates with Israel and had recently taken up arms alongside other gangs.

They hunted the Mujaida clan until the family, decimated after a gun battle, announced that it would pledge fealty to the “government” of Gaza: Hamas.

Hamas may have stopped fighting Israel, but it has launched a new, violent campaign to reassert control over local families and militias that had challenged its power during the past two years of war — including those who, according to the leaders of two clans, had received support from Israel. Whether by carrying out armed raids

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