(Note: Names of victims of Hamas violence in this report and accompanying videos have been changed for their protection)
GAZA (JNI) — Amid reports of a possible deployment of international forces to oversee Hamas disarmament, Gazans are increasingly speaking out about the group’s abusive practices. In interviews with Jusoor News, Gazans described brutal intimidation tactics against opponents and a Hamas culture of impunity for acts of extortion against civilians. Despite Hamas’s promises to dissolve its government in Gaza, locals say, the abusive practices have continued.
Gunmen from Hamas’s Sahem (“Arrow”) enforcer unit shot Gaza resident Salim on Oct. 13, 2025, leaving him disabled and unable to work, he told Jusoor last week. About 10 militants stopped Salim for questioning as he walked down a street of his neighborhood, he recalled. “When they heard I was from the Majaida clan,” he said, “they grabbed me, pushed me down on my stomach, and shot me in the knee while I lay defenseless.” The incident took place during a period of intense armed clashes between Hamas and armed Majaida men which reportedly left 20 or so Hamas militants dead.
After Sahem gunmen left Salim bleeding in the street, an ambulance eventually brought him to a Red Crescent hospital, but Salim found medical staff operating under a cloud of fear. For unexplained reasons, he recalled, doctors told him they would not provide a report describing his wounds. When he later sought care at both Ministry of Health and NGO-run hospitals, none showed willingness to treat him.
Hanin, a young woman from Gaza, recounted how she sought justice from Hamas authorities only to face abuse. She first contacted police after a thief stole her mobile phone and about 1,000 shekels in cash, she told Jusoor. After a few days, the police told her they had caught the thief and extracted his confession. When she went to meet Hamas officers in charge of the case at the Asda Prison in Khan Younes, they told her that they had recovered her phone, but needed to hold on to it for a few more days to complete their investigation.
When she later returned to pick up her phone, Hanin learned that the same officers who had interrogated the thief had also hacked her phone, accessing personal data. They threatened to reveal private messages and personal photos she had sent to her husband if she did not pay them $100, she said: “They told me they downloaded all our videos and conversations.” Her husband, a doctor, was outside Gaza when the exchange took place, she explained, and the couple decided their best option was to pay. About a week after she had done so, the militants called again, demanding more money.
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To end the blackmail, Hanin said, she turned to tribal leaders in the Mawasi dunes, where her family has been staying in a tent camp since their home was damaged during the war. The tribal leaders eventually convinced the militants to delete the messages and photos and leave her alone, she said — but as far as she knows, there has been no effort to hold the Hamas men who blackmailed her accountable.
The Asda Prison in Khan Younes, where Hanin’s blackmailers worked, reportedly serves as a base for numerous acts of intimidation and extortion. Inmates at Asda are beaten frequently by staff, the father of a young man imprisoned there alleged in a letter published in July by Gazan independent journalist Hamza al-Masri. Inmates are provided meals that consist entirely of bread, pre-packaged cheese, and canned hummus, the man said, and must pay exorbitant prices for fruits, vegetables, meat, or fish. “The jail canteen is a profit-maximizing commercial venture,” the man wrote. “Their excuse is that the canteen operator has to pay the [Hamas-run] government 135,000 shekels a month.”
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