bloodshed

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday warned Hamas “we will have no choice but to go in and kill them” if internal bloodshed persists in Gaza.

The grim warning from Trump came after he previously downplayed the internal violence in the territory since a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect last week.

Trump said Tuesday that Hamas had taken out “a couple of gangs that were very bad” and had killed a number of gang members. “That didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you,” he said.

The president did not say how he would follow through on his threat posted on his Truth Social platform, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking clarity.

But Trump also made clear he had limited patience for the killings that Hamas was carrying out against rival factions inside the devastated territory.

“They will disarm, and if they don’t do so, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said.

The Hamas-run police maintained a high degree of public security after the militants seized power in Gaza 18 years ago while also cracking down on dissent. They largely melted away in recent months as Israeli forces seized large areas of Gaza and targeted Hamas security forces with airstrikes.

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.

The ceasefire plan introduced by Trump had called for all hostages — living and dead — to be handed over by a deadline that expired Monday. But under the deal, if that didn’t happen, Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand them over as soon as possible.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel “will not compromise” and demanded that Hamas fulfill the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal about the return of hostages’ bodies.

Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Wednesday that the group honored the ceasefire’s terms and handed over the remains of the hostages it had access to.

The United States announced last week that it is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations and nongovernmental organizations. But U.S. officials have stressed that U.S. forces would not set foot in Gaza.

Israeli officials have also been angered by the pace of the return of the remains of dead hostages the militant group had been holding in captivity. Hamas had agreed to return 28 bodies as part of the ceasefire deal in addition to 20 living hostages, who were released earlier this week.

Hamas has assured the U.S. through intermediaries that it is working to return dead hostages, according to two senior U.S. advisors. The advisors, who were not authorized to comment publicly and briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said they do not believe Hamas has violated the deal.

Madhani writes for the Associated Press.

DONALD Trump has warned of a “massive bloodshed” if Hamas fails to agree to a peace deal in the coming days.

Trump warned he will “not tolerate delay” from Hamas – and has urged both sides to move quickly towards a deal or else “all bets will be off”.

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Trump revealed indirect talks between Israel, Hamas and other mediators from the Arab countries have been “very positive” – and that he expects the first phase of his proposed peace deal should be completed “this week”.

Taking to his Truth Social platform, the US president said: “There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend.

“These talks have been very successful and are proceeding rapidly. The technical teams will again meet on Monday, in Egypt, to work through and clarify the final details.

“I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST.

“Time is of the essence, or massive bloodshed will follow – something that nobody wants to see.”

It comes after Hamas agreed to some parts of the 20-point US peace plan, including releasing hostages and handing over Gaza governance to Palestinian technocrats.

Though it said it was seeking negotiations on other issues.

Negotiators from both sides will now gather at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing hope that the hostages could be released within days.

The White House said Trump had also sent two envoys to Egypt – his son-in-law, Jared Kushner and Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza ahead of the discussions in Egypt.

“You can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS News talk show “Face the Nation”.

“There can’t be a war going on in the middle of it.”

The radical Islamist fanatics seized 251 hostages during their October 7 attack, 47 of whom are still in Gaza.

Of those, the Israeli military says 25 are dead.

Israel, meanwhile, has continued to carry out strikes.

Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli attacks killed at least 20 people across the territory on Sunday, 13 of them in Gaza City.

Trump said a ceasefire and release of hostages will take place “immediately” after Hamas agrees to Israeli forces’ partial withdrawal from Gaza.

He revealed that Tel Aviv agreed to the initial withdrawal line presented to Hamas – and that a peace process will begin as soon as the terror group accepts the proposal.

Hamas has previously rejected a phased Israeli withdrawal, insisting instead on an immediate and full pullout.

Over the weekend, the terror group called for a swift start to a hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel, as negotiators from both sides prepared to meet in Egypt for crucial talks.

However, there is so much that could still go wrong.

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The 20-point peace plan proposes an immediate end to fighting and the release within 72 hours of living Israeli hostages held by Hamas – as well as the remains of hostages thought to be dead.

Nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners will be freed from Israeli prisons in exchange.

Hamas’s political leadership, based in Qatar, are said to be open to accepting it – but with amendments.

Although they have been unable to hold sway, as they do not have control of Israeli hostages – whose fate plays a crucial part in the deal.

Hamas demands that issues over Gaza’s future should be discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework, which it will be part of.

But Trump has ruled that out, with Israel saying in no way can the terror group remain in power for peace to occur.

Senior Hamas mouthpiece Mousa Abu Marzouk said the group will not disarm – one of the key points of Trump’s peace deal – until the Israeli “occupation” ends.

Bibi’s vow

But Netanyahu on Saturday warned that the demilitarisation of Gaza is imminent.

“Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarised – either the easy way or the hard way, but it will be achieved,” he said in his speech.

Hamas said it was ready “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats) based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing.”

It has previously offered to release all hostages and to hand over administration of the Gaza Strip to a different body.

A successful ceasefire could then pave the way for 48 hostages – of whom just 20 are believed to be alive – to be released from Gaza terror tunnels after two years in hell.

A truce – if it holds – could also allow vital humanitarian aid to flood into the besieged coastal strip, where Hamas says more than 66,000 Palestinians have died in fighting.

A new “Board of Peace” chaired by the US president and run by former UK PM Tony Blair would then move in to rebuild the strip before peace-loving Palestinians take over.

Earlier this week, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the most senior Hamas military commander still in Gaza, told the BBC that Trump’s plan “serves Israel’s interests and ignores those of the Palestinian people”.

Israel has already backed Trump’s peace plan, which involves an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and Hamas disarmament.

The day after Eid al-Fitr, a festive period for Muslims, is usually quiet; a time for rest, reflection, and recovery for most tailors who had had sleepless nights to ensure people looked colourful during the celebrations. For Abubakar Ibrahim, this March, it became a day etched in trauma.

It began as a brawl between two boys from neighbouring communities, Tunga Sabon Titi and Maje, divided only by a narrow stretch of road in Minna, the capital of Niger State in North Central Nigeria. The brawl quickly escalated into a full-blown gang clash, drawing in allies and sympathisers from both sides.

Ibrahim, a tailor and student in his early twenties, was at home when the commotion began. “I was heading somewhere when I heard the rants ‘karya ne wallahi, Ba sulhu [It’s a lie, no reconciliation]’,” he recalled. “While all this was happening, vigilantes were trying to disperse the crowd as we stood and watched.”

Moments later, gunfire shattered the air. He never saw it coming; six pellets from a Dane gun tore into him. Two lodged near his clavicle, the rest in his lap. “I didn’t realise I was hit until someone drew my attention while we were running,” he told HumAngle. “Then I felt dizzy, my leg went numb, and I collapsed.”

Residents told HumAngle that Mada, a local vigilante, had been aiming at the gang when his bullet missed and struck Ibrahim, who had no part in the clash or any gang activity. He was simply trying to earn a living, yet became another innocent casualty in a pattern of violence that has become disturbingly familiar in Minna.

Tracing the origins

Investigations by HumAngle trace the roots of Minna’s gang violence to long-standing turf rivalries between youths in neighbourhoods in the mid-2000s, when loosely organised gangs, locally called Yan Daba, engaged in sporadic confrontations, largely confined to street-level disputes.

Over time, the scale and lethality of these conflicts grew. Neighbourhood rivalries now pit entire communities such as Limawa, Unguwan Daji, Bosso, Soje, Kpakungu, Barikin Sale, against each other. Festive periods, school closures, and political transitions frequently trigger violent episodes, often leaving deaths, injuries, and property destruction in their wake. Some sources within these communities said the violence sometimes happens as weekend fights over petty theft, insults, or territory.

These confrontations have also spilt into schools, with rivals asserting dominance through violence. Schools such as Zarumai Model in Bosso, Government Day Secondary School in Unguwan Daji, Father O’Connell Science College (formerly Government Secondary School), and Hill Top Model Schools have all witnessed inter-school violent gang clashes, sometimes ending in serious injuries or deaths.

HumAngle has previously documented the activities of a gang with the same name in northwestern Nigeria’s Kano, where they terrorised neighbourhoods, showing that this style of youth-driven violence is not confined to one city.

These gangs are usually armed with daggers, cutlasses, and sharp weapons like scissors, animal horns, and screwdrivers. 

This violence is not confined to the past. In a pre-dawn sting operation in April, police officers in Niger State arrested 24 suspected criminals linked to thuggery and armed robbery in Maitumbi, a troubled suburb of Minna. The coordinated raid, led by the Anti-Thuggery Unit and backed by local police divisions and vigilantes, targeted crime hotspots like Angwan-Roka, Kwari-Berger, Flamingo, and Tudun Wada, following a surge in youth violence and gang activity, according to police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun.

In March, the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education shut down Government Day Secondary School, Bosso Road, and Father O’Connell Science College in Minna, after assessing ongoing conflicts between students and local youths, some posing as students.

Although many incidents go unreported, they continue to claim lives and property.

In April last year, a violent clash between rival gangs in the Maitumbi area left two dead, with shops, vehicles, and tricycles damaged. The police confirmed the arrest of six suspects connected to the incident and stated that efforts were underway to apprehend others involved. 

Later in December, a 15-year-old boy, Saidu Ubu, was killed in another fight between rival groups from Gurgudu and Kwari-Berger. The altercation, which began as a minor dispute late at night, quickly escalated into a brutal fight that caused panic among residents. By the time police arrived, the attackers had fled.

More recently, police arrested 18-year-old Jamilu Abdullahi, known as Zabo, over alleged armed robbery, culpable homicide, and gang violence in several of the affected communities.

Caught in the fix

For residents like Ibrahim, these flare-ups are more than news headlines; they are life-altering. After he collapsed due to the gunshots, his brother rushed to the scene and took him to Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Specialist Hospital, a nearby public medical facility.  

But the ordeal was far from over. 

When they arrived at the hospital, they were told that there were no doctors available to attend to him at the moment. “They only gave me some injections but didn’t attempt to remove the bullets,” Ibrahim recounted. 

Four days later, still in pain, his family turned to a local hunter in nearby Wushishi known for removing Dane gun pellets. The hunter succeeded where the hospital had failed.

“I was unconscious when I arrived at the hospital,” Ibrahim said. “I only woke up there. But the bullets stayed in me for four days until they were removed by the local hunter.”

The recovery was slow and painful. Ibrahim missed his exams, adding academic loss to physical trauma. “It took me a while [over a month] to recover,” he said quietly.

The vigilante accused of shooting him was reportedly arrested, but Ibrahim has heard nothing since; no justice, no closure. 

Residents who spoke to HumAngle expressed concerns over the lingering menace that has not only continued to affect their loved ones but has also left them worried about having to raise their children in such an environment.

“I do not want my child to grow up witnessing this violence and someday be influenced to partake in it. It will break my heart,” said Danlami Shittu, a designer whose shop is just metres away from where Ibrahim was shot. “Every festive period, we hold our breath. These boys do not just fight; they settle old scores. Yet those of us who are not involved still pay the price.”

The missing links

Aminu Muhammad, a consultant in peace and conflict management, said the roots of this crisis lie deep within the decay of societal values and systemic neglect and a defect in the state’s justice and security frameworks.

He identified poor parenting as a primary driver of youth delinquency in the city, noting that many parents in the city are disengaged from their children’s lives, unaware of where they live or who they associate with.

This parental neglect has created a vacuum filled by peer influence and street culture, pushing many youths toward gang affiliation. “You must first take care of your children before they become more acceptable in society,” he told HumAngle.

Beyond the home, Dr. Aminu, who is also a lecturer at the Abdullahi Kure University, Minna, revealed that lack of access to education and vocational training has left many young people idle and vulnerable. Those who cannot enrol in formal schools are rarely offered alternatives to learn trades or acquire skills that could make them self-reliant. This absence of opportunity often translates into frustration and a turn toward violence.

Dr. Aminu also points to the failure of security agencies and the justice system. 

“When there are calls to security personnel during violent encounters, the response is often delayed. These delays allow attackers to escape and victims to retaliate, perpetuating a cycle of violence,” he added. “Even when arrests are made, the lack of stern punishment mechanisms undermines accountability. These guys are granted bail or discharged without much consequence. Influential persons and even government officials sometimes intervene to secure their release.”

To stem the tide of violence, the conflict management consultant suggested a multi-pronged approach: stronger parental involvement, public sensitisation through the National Orientation Agency, and a tougher security and judicial framework. Without this, he warns, Minna risks losing its identity as a peaceful city and its youth to the streets. 

Bello Abdullahi, the state’s Commissioner for Homeland Security, did not respond to multiple calls and messages requesting official comments on the issue.

For Ibrahim, the physical wounds have healed, and he has returned to his tailoring, but the emotional scars will outlast the headlines. And for other casualties of this violence, their stories never even make it that far.

“I want peace. Not just for me, but for all of us,” Ibrahim said.