The Fatah-backed al-Majaida clan killed several Hamas fighters who attacked them on Friday.By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel NewsHamas is currently battling a Fatah-backed clan in Khan Yunis, ordering nearby residents to leave so it could take revenge for a skirmish the previous day in which several of its men were killed, Abu Ali Express reported Sunday morning.Security forces of the Palestinian Authority, whose power rests on the Fatah movement, said they would do everything possible to aid the al-Majaida clan and prevent the announced Hamas move, according to the social media channel that tracks Arab affairs.On Friday, Abu Ali Express published clips of several dead men lying on a street.Al-Majaida clan members said on the tape they were Hamas fighters whom they had killed after the men had come “to shoot children and adults as they slept in their tents.”Fatah-linked Gazan sources said that Hamas also launched mortars at clan members’ homes, the channel reported.Unofficial Hamas sources said the group’s Saham force had targeted a clan member allegedly responsible for assassinating two Hamas operatives, and that he had been successfully eliminated.The IDF later released a statement and video showing a drone strike on a group of about 20 armed Hamas fighters that had been approaching “Gazan residents in the humanitarian zone in Khan Yunis.”The army did not specify who those residents were.Hussam al-Astal, leader of the city’s main Hamas rival militia, told The Times of Israel that his forces helped the al-Majaida clan fend off a Hamas attack with Israeli assistance.He said 11 Hamas fighters were killed and six seriously wounded, while one al-Majaida member was killed.Hamas said the IDF statement proved that Israel was “protecting” the al-Majaida clan, which it accused of collaborating with Israel and killing “resistance members” in Khan Yunis — the term the terror group uses for its fighters.It blamed the IDF for the deaths of those who attacked the clan rather than crediting its local rivals.“Wise members” of the clan, it warned, should now “take the initiative and cooperate with [our] security services before it’s too late.”For its part, the al-Majaida clan rejected the IDF’s claim of having helped them.“The criminal occupation that claims to have protected us has killed us, destroyed our homes on the heads of our people,” they said. “It does not add to our honor that it mentions our name or that it claims to have protected us.”“Our blood and our spirit are for our homeland,” they added. “Our honor rejects the mention of our name on the tongue of the occupation that knows nothing but the language of murder and destruction.”According to al-Astal, the al-Majaida clan has been skirmishing with Hamas for several weeks.He said Hamas shot several clan members in the legs and accused them of collaborating with Israel and stealing aid.The post Hamas battles Fatah-backed clan in deadly Khan Yunis clashes appeared first on World Israel News.