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A video this week captured Hamas fighters in Gaza executing Palestinian rivals as the militant group tries to assert that it is still the dominant force in the territory after two years of war with Israel.
Oct. 15, 2025
The public execution was captured on video.
Masked gunmen, some wearing green headbands associated with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, lined up eight captives in the middle of a crowded street in Gaza City on Monday. They forced the men to bend over, leveled their rifles at them, and opened fire, leaving their bodies in the dirt.
A Hamas internal security official confirmed that the video, which The New York Times geolocated to Gaza City, showed Hamas fighters executing Palestinian rivals. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.
The execution took place just days after a cease-fire with Israel began on Friday and Israeli forces pulled back from parts of Gaza. Analysts say that Hamas appears to be trying to assert that it is still the dominant force in the territory, no matter how weakened it is after two years of war with Israel.
Hamas lost many of its top commanders and thousands of fighters in the conflict, and some Gaza residents launched rare protests against the group’s iron-fisted rule earlier this year.
Israel has acknowledged that it also sought to undermine Hamas’s control by backing rival Palestinian clans in Gaza, with mixed results.
“Hamas is sending a message: ‘We are here. We are the sole authority in Gaza,’” said Tamer Qarmout, a Palestinian political analyst and academic from Gaza, who is based in Qatar.