EXCLUSIVE TO FOX: In a recent interview with Reuters, a senior Hamas leader justified the organization’s actions in Gaza, where they have been suppressing dissent. Meanwhile, a Gazan lawyer, currently in hiding from the group, has issued a stark warning that the violence against critics is ongoing.

Speaking exclusively from Gaza, Moumen Al-Natour, a lawyer and former political prisoner under Hamas, as well as the president of Palestinian Youth for Development, shared his alarming account. He explained that following the ceasefire, Hamas operatives emerged from their hidden tunnels. “Once the fighting ceased, Hamas fighters surfaced and targeted families who opposed them,” Al-Natour stated. “This is their way of signaling their return—by instilling fear among the populace.”

In response to these actions, Mohammed Nazzal, a Hamas official, told Reuters on Friday that during wartime, “exceptional measures” are sometimes necessary, claiming those executed were criminals responsible for killings.

Images have surfaced of Hamas gunmen in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, following the release of 20 Israeli hostages on October 13, 2025. (Photo credit: TPS-IL)

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday, reacting to online footage depicting Hamas fighters executing Palestinians in Gaza City’s main square. Trump warned, “If Hamas continues its killings in Gaza, contrary to the agreement, we may have no option but to intervene militarily.”

Reuters has reported that at least 33 individuals have been executed by Hamas in recent days, as the group seeks to “demonstrate strength” post-ceasefire. Israeli sources indicate that many of those killed were from families accused of collaborating with Israel or supporting rival factions.

Al-Natour, the co-founder of the “We Want To Live Movement,” said several local militias are still resisting the group across Gaza. In Rafah, the Abu Shabab clan has drawn attention for recruiting fighters and resisting Hamas’s control. In Gaza City, the Doghmush clan has clashed repeatedly with Hamas terrorists. In Khan Younis, the Mujaida clan has also been involved in armed confrontations. 

Some members tied to the Hellis network in Gaza City are operating in neighborhoods under tension with Hamas. These factions do not hold stable territory, but their sporadic resistance — from raids to armed standoffs — signals the first cracks in Hamas’s grip.

In this still from a verified social media video confirmed to Reuters by a Hamas source, seven men are forced to their knees and shot from behind by Hamas terrorists during public executions in Gaza on Oct. 14, 2025. (Reuters)

“These militias come from the population,” Al-Natour said. “They need recognition and coordination to form a political umbrella — a transitional body that governs these areas and organizes their security.”

He said he and others are trying to operate under what he called Trump’s peace framework, forming safe zones inside Gaza where civilians unaffiliated with Hamas can access food, aid, and protection. “We can build a governing body in these zones,” he said. “But those of us who speak out are hunted. The people Hamas is killing now are just like me — Palestinians who dared to speak.”

Joseph Braude, president of the Center for Peace Communications, said Hamas is using the post-war lull to settle old scores. “It’s a dark time for Hamas’s many opponents in Gaza,” he told Fox News Digital. “They’re exploiting this moment to reassert dominance through brute force. They killed a pregnant woman about 18 hours ago. It is indiscriminate killing designed simply to sow fear in ordinary people”

His organization released a video on X featuring an interview with a Gazan who described how Hamas killed a 5-year-old child as part of its campaign against opponents.

Braude described Gaza’s reality as bifurcated. Reconstruction, he explained, could begin in the areas behind the yellow line — territory now under Israeli supervision — while fighting continues elsewhere. “This is the scenario envisioned in the 20-point plan,” he said. “Gazans opposed to Hamas, including those who have taken up arms in that struggle, can help form enclaves of self-rule that evolve into a transitional authority with international support.”

He predicted that a coalition of anti-Hamas militias, supported by air cover from Israel and possibly private contractors, will carry out the remaining ground battles. “There is no conceptual return to the pre-Oct. 7 approach,” he added.

A military parade of the Hamas terrorist organization before the transfer of four Israeli female hostages to the Red Cross on January 25th, 2025. (TPS-IL)

Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University and a former IDF intelligence officer, said Hamas has seized the clans’ weapons and money, much of it originating from Israel, drawing parallels to Hezbollah’s takeover of southern Lebanon in 2000. “This leaves Israel in a dilemma,” he warned. “If the Israeli military ends up protecting these clans, we risk starting another war with Hamas. If we abandon them, we may have to absorb them later, like the allies we evacuated from Lebanon.”

He called the initiative “a tragic example of acting without understanding Gaza’s reality.”

Gazans who spoke anonymously to Fox News Digital described chaos and fear. One man said “gangs are in the streets” and warned that another internal war could erupt. Another said, “No one knows who will rule or what will happen next. We just want to live without bloodshed.”

Trump’s team has framed the Gaza ceasefire as the foundation for lasting peace. But with executions, clan wars, and new militias emerging, officials and residents alike say the post-war phase may test whether that peace can hold — or whether Gaza is entering yet another cycle of terror and revenge.