The Hobbesian World of Hamas

When the Palestinians are not killing Israelis, they enjoy killing each other. The latest snapshot of this Hobbesian world, where so many live lives that are nasty, brutish, and short, comes to us from Deir al-Balah, a town in central Gaza. Two large clans — “families” — were fighting each other. Who knows what started it? The report offers no clue. Perhaps the fighting was about who would make off with a few sacks of flour or rice. Or it may have started when a boy from one family looked too long at a girl from another family, thereby compromising her virtue. Or perhaps there was some slight, some sign of disrespect by those in one family to an elder of the other family. in the tinderbox of Gaza, internecine warfare is easily set alight. As the intra-family fighting continued, a Hamas policeman tried to stop the violence, and in so doing he killed a member of the Abusamra family, a powerful clan in Deir al-Balah. He was, in turn, killed by other Abusamra family members. More on this violent flareup which has no obvious end, and may end up involving more Hamas operatives who will arrive to punish the Abusamra clan for killing the policeman, can be found here: “Blood feud: Gaza clan executes Hamas policeman, Gazan reports say,” by Ohad Merlin, Jerusalem Post, April 1, 2025:

A member of Hamas’s police force was executed in Deir el-Balah after a local clan accused him of murdering one of its kin, raising political tensions in the Gaza Strip.

Social media was flooded with viral videos depicting the execution on Tuesday of Ibrahim Shaldan, a member of Hamas’s police, from point-blank range.

The execution was geo-located to have taken place near a known monument at the entrance to the city of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, and Shaldan’s ID was photographed and made public. In the graphic video, three different executioners can be seen shooting, while the victim is seen holding a poster.

The affair began when the local Abusamra clan alleged that members of Hamas’s police force killed Abdulrahman Abusamra, a young man who was, according to the clan’s account, standing in line to buy flour.

Was he really just standing in line to buy flour, as the Abusamra clan claims, when he was shot for no reason by a Hamas policeman, Ibrahim Shaldan, or was he involved in a a deadly battle with members of a rival clan as part of a fight when several participants were killed?

However, it appears that the accounts were more complex than those told by the family. According to other Gazan channels, armed clashes between local clans began earlier on Tuesday at a shelter in Deir el-Balah, which apparently led to several deaths.

So the story was more complicated than that of a policeman shooting, out of the blue, a young man standing innocently in line to buy flour. Abdulrahman Abusamra must have been one of those actively involved in the fighting among clans who had refused, at the policeman’s order, to stop fighting. That was when the policeman shot him, perhaps hoping only to wound him. But mistakes happen. His death meant, in the omertà of the Arab clans, that his killer had to be killed by relatives of the dead man, and he was.

Nevertheless, Hamas has implicitly taken responsibility for the death of Abusamra. Following the execution, Hamas’s Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, issued a statement saying “the police are investigating the crime of the killing of a policeman while he was carrying out a mission to break up a fight, which led to the death of a civilian form his injuries in Deir el-Balah this noon. The police will be following up with the event to arrest the perpetrators, stressing that they will take all strong legal measures against the perpetrators of the heinous crime of killing a policeman while on duty.”

Some commentators online expressed their satisfaction with the execution.

“After the Abusamra family’s retribution against the killer, every Hamas member will think a million times before shooting someone from his own people, especially from the large families,” one wrote.

The large clans are sufficiently numerous, and well armed, to be able to take on even members of Hamas, and they are quick to take revenge for any harm done to a family member. The killing of the Hamas policeman is indeed a warning to all of Hamas: do not shoot, or otherwise harm, a member of those powerful clans for they will not hesitate to take their revenge.

However, Hamas loyalists quickly turned to political tensions. One commenter named Abu Khaled wrote: “We must do away with the entire Abusamra clan,” while another one named Hameed took a screenshot from the video of the execution, adding: “Anyone who has names of those who appeared in the video of the murder of the shahid [martyr] today, please publish them so that they can be punished.”

Can the entire Abusamra clan, with hundreds of members, really be “done away with” by Hamas, which has been greatly weakened by IDF attacks launched since October 8, 2023, without starting a veritable civil war in Gaza? And is it true that a member of Fatah, which is the largest faction in the Palestinian Authority, and the deadly rival to Hamas, was present when the Hamas policeman was killed— perhaps even egging on the Abusamra executioners, or is that merely a story concocted by Hamas to increase hatred even more for the PA among Hamas members?

Finally, there were those who feared an escalation that would lead to an all-out civil war. One blogger named Muhammad wrote: “Hamas killed a young man from the Abu Samra family without a trial or law, just as it killed dozens before him. The family is big and takes revenge for their son immediately, so they kill the killer. Who is responsible for bringing Gaza to this state?”

The hatred in Gaza for Hamas boils over in this blogger’s comment, blaming Hamas for killing a “young man” from the Abusamra family “without a trial or law” and proudly declaring — in a warning to Hamas — that “the [Abusamra] family is big and takes revenge for their son immediately.” And the blogger blames Hamas for all the violence, asking, as the recent anti-Hamas protesters in Beit Lahiya have been asking, “who is responsible for bringing Gaza to this state”?

Now members of the powerful Abusamra clan have taken their tit-for-tat revenge. They killed the Hama policeman who, as he attempted to put a stop to fighting that had broken out among clans, killed a young man, Abdulrahman Abusamra, only to be killed in turn by the young man’s relatives. The violence continues. Tomorrow, or next week, or next month, we will read of Hamas executing those Abusamra family members who killed the policeman. And that will lead to more revenge killings. Other families may join in to support the Abusamra clan, as the hatred for Hamas builds throughout Gaza. Among the Palestinians in Gaza, there is no end to this.