Civilians under fire by gangs in Gaza: What happened in Maghazi?
People in Maghazi, central Gaza, react in despair after violence by a local armed group killed 10 people and injured 44 on 6 April 2026
Maram Humaid reports in Al Jazeera on 8 April 2026:
At noon on Monday, Asaad Nteel and his family were terrified when a group of armed men suddenly stormed their home in eastern Maghazi, central Gaza. There had been no prior warning. Family members quickly found themselves in the centre of a gunfight involving an armed Palestinian groups, which currently operates in Israeli-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip in the wake of Israel’s brutal war.
At first, Nteel and his family thought the gunmen, who rushed into their home as heavy fire thundered outside, must be Israeli soldiers, as they live very close to the “yellow line” that separates Palestinian and Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza.
The armed men, however, quickly identified themselves to the family as the “Popular Forces combating terrorism”, an armed group operating in central Gaza with the support of the Israeli army.
“They broke the doors, detained my uncle and the other man, and took them away towards an area near the yellow line,” Nteel told Al Jazeera. Nteel, his wife, and their extended family, including his parents and siblings in the upstairs apartment, say they froze in fear.
“The militia members ordered us to gather in one room and not move at all,” Nteel explained. “We chose not to resist so they wouldn’t harm us or the children and women with us.”
As the family crowded into a single room of the house, the armed men positioned themselves near windows and openings, exchanging gunfire with other gunmen believed to be affiliated with Hamas.
The family later discovered theirs was one of four houses in the neighbourhood that the armed group used as cover during this particular battle. “We didn’t understand what exactly was happening or what these militias wanted. We stayed like that until they received orders to withdraw,” Nteel said. Before the gunmen left, they interrogated Nteel at length about whether any nearby residents were affiliated with Hamas.
They also accused him of attempting to film them after spotting cameras in the house. He tried to convince them that the cameras were not working and explained that he and his wife had worked as wedding photographers before the war.