Reports from within the Gaza Strip indicate a loss of civilian control by Hamas throughout Gaza. According to sources close to the situation, Hamas is conducting a "civil war" against rebellious clans and merchants who refuse to pay taxes to the terrorist organization.
According to reports from both Hamas affiliates and its opponents inside and outside the Gaza Strip, in recent weeks the terrorist organization has been losing more and more of its status and governing power throughout the territory. Inside Gaza, it is reported that the largest and most significant merchant clan in the center of the Strip, the Khargoun clan, is refusing to pay taxes to the organization on its goods, and the conflict has escalated into gunfire in the ruined streets.
Eyad Hassan, a Palestinian activist in exile living in the United States but still in contact with the Gaza Strip, reports that recently the clan refused to pay taxes on a shipment of cigarettes that managed to enter the Strip. A shipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at current prices of tobacco products within Gaza.
After the refusal, gun battles broke out in the ruined streets of Khan Younis and its surroundings between Hamas and the clan members, with numerous reports indicating that many were injured in both the clan and the "Shaam" group of Hamas responsible for internal governance.
Sources close to Hamas in the Gaza Strip report that the gun battles occurred as part of an operation initiated by the "Shaam" group during the past week in an attempt to regain control over parts of the Strip where the terrorist organization had lost its grip. According to those reports, so far during the operation, 3 Gazan merchants have been killed, and 27 have been injured in the battles.
