Hamas gunmen tightened their grip in Gaza on Monday and Tuesday, sources in the Strip said, including carrying out public executions.

Hamas has killed at least 33 people since a ceasefire took effect on Friday in a crackdown on groups that have tested its grip, sources in the strip said, having apparently got a US nod to temporarily police the shattered enclave.

In a stark assertion of the group’s return, fighters executed several men they accused of collaborating with Israeli forces. In one video circulated late on Monday, Hamas fighters dragged seven men into a circle of people in Gaza City, forced them to their knees and shot them from behind. A Hamas source confirmed the authenticity of the video.

Gaza residents said fighters were increasingly visible on Tuesday, deploying along routes needed for aid deliveries. Palestinian security sources say dozens of people have been killed in clashes between Hamas gunmen and rivals in recent days.

Although Israeli troops have withdrawn from urban areas in Gaza under the ceasefire that began last week, drone fire killed five people as they went to check on houses in a suburb east of Gaza City and an air strike killed one person and injured another near Khan Younis, Hamas-run Gaza health authorities said.

Pummeled by Israel during the war ignited by the October 7, 2023, massacre that it led, Hamas has gradually sent its operatives back into the streets of Gaza since the ceasefire began, according to two security sources in the territory.

On Monday, Hamas deployed members of its Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing as it freed the last living hostages seized from Israel two years ago. It was a reminder of one of the major challenges facing US President Donald Trump’s effort to secure a lasting deal for Gaza, as the US, Israel and many other nations demand Hamas disarm.

Reuters footage shows dozens of Hamas fighters lined up at a hospital in southern Gaza, one wearing a shoulder patch identifying him as a member of the elite “Shadow Unit” that Hamas sources say was tasked with holding hostages.

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