Powerful local families and armed gangs – including some anti-Hamas factions backed by Israel – stepped into the void. Many are accused of hijacking humanitarian aid and selling it for profit, contributing to Gaza’s starvation crisis.

Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza’s private truckers union, said Hamas was acting against gangs that had terrorised people in areas controlled by Israel.

“Those gangs looted aid and killed people under the protection of the [Israeli] occupation,” he told The Associated Press, saying they operated in so-called red zones where Israel had ordered people to evacuate. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.

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Residents of the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said the gang, led by Hussam Doghmush, was known to loot aid convoys and rob abandoned homes in areas controlled by the Israeli military. They said Doghmush was among some two dozen people killed in the clashes with Hamas, including a local journalist and a son of a senior Hamas official based outside Gaza.

Hamas-linked Telegram channels said Hamas had targeted “collaborators and traitors” working with Israel. The Hamas-run Sahm security force, which says it targets looters and other criminals, shared footage that appeared to show its forces killing eight people execution-style in the streets as people cheered. It said the detainees were gangsters.