"The operation was successful," Shahwan said.
This was the bloodiest clash between Hamas and the Fatah-aligned
Dughmoush since the Islamic movement captured the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Officials said the campaign was sparked by the killing of a Hamas officer,
identified as Abdul Karim Khuzaiq, on Sept. 15. They said Khuzaiq was killed
as he tried to arrest a Dughmoush member.
At first, Hamas demanded that Dughmoush surrender three suspects. When
the clan refused, hundreds of Executive Force and police officers stormed
the Dughmoush compound in Gaza City, located near the home of Hamas leader
Mahmoud Zahar.
The battle was said to have included assault rifles, rocket-propelled
grenades, mortars and bombs. Police said they found a large amount of
weapons and bombs in the Dughmoush compound.
This was the second Hamas assault in as many months on a major
Fatah-aligned clan in the Gaza Strip. In August, at least 11 people were
killed in a Hamas offensive against the Hilles clan, sparking the flight of
200 members to neighboring Israel.
"This was not a campaign against the Dughmoush family," Shahwan said.
"It only targeted some members of the family involved in security chaos."
Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Hussan said eight Dughmoush family
members, a police officer and two bystanders were killed in the fighting.
Hussan said 40 people, many of them police, were injured.
Among the casualties were Ibrahim, Jamil and Saeb Dughmoush. Officials
said Jamil Dughmoush has long been sought by Hamas authorities.
Officials said Jamil was the leading suspect in the killing of Khuzaiq
as well as attacks on other Hamas representatives. Khuzaiq was said to have
been shot dead as he tried to arrest Dughmoush.
Later, the daughter of Abu Al Kassam Dughmoush, commander of the Nasser
Brigades, was also identified as one of the dead. The Nasser Brigades was
regarded as aligned with Hamas.
Officials said Dughmoush members have been paid by foreign sources to
end the Hamas ceasefire with Israel. They cited the new Al Tawhid Brigades,
linked to Dughmoush,
said to have detonated a bomb near an Israeli military jeep along the Gaza
security fence on Sept. 11. The fence was badly damaged.
Dughmoush has formed two Palestinian militias, which engage in
abductions, including that of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston in 2007. They
were identified as the Army of Islam, led by Mumtaz Dughmoush and the
Popular Resistance Committee, headed by Zakaria Dughmoush.
