The Doghmush (, pronounced "Doe-moosh" or "Durmush", ''see

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spelli ...

'') is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

clan from the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

Activities with Gaza's militant factions

Members of the clan are affiliated or aligned with various Palestinian and Islamist groups, including Fatah, Hamas, Popular Resistance Committees, and al-Qa'ida. Mumtaz Doghmush, who was involved in the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, led the Army of Islam by 2008. After Hamas' takeover of Gaza, the Doghmush clan was often involved in violent and deadly clashes with Hamas security forces. After the killing of a Hamas police officer, Hamas security forces raided a clan stronghold, leading to fighting between the clan and Hamas forces on 16 September 2008. Ten clan members, including Mumtaz's brother, were killed in the worst breakout of violence in Gaza since July 2008. Also killed was the infant daughter of Zakaria Doghmush, secretary general of the Hamas-affiliated Popular Resistance Committees.

Johnston kidnapping

Clan members affiliated with al-Qaida were involved in the kidnapping and holding of the British journalist Alan Johnston from March to July 2007. The clan members proclaimed themselves as the ''Jaysh al-Islām'' ( Army of Islam), and being behind the kidnapping and holding of the British journalist Alan Johnston for four months in 2007. The family has reportedly been involved in

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

, arms dealing and the killing of rivals. The clan has been dubbed "''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'' of

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

". They are linked to the British-based Palestinian-Jordanian extremist Abu Qatada. Mumtaz is suspected as the mastermind of Johnston's kidnapping.

Gaza war

Alleged execution of the clan leader

In March 2024, during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, the leader of the Doghmush clan, Saleh Doghmush, was killed. Israeli media outlets reported that Hamas clashed with the family during the war and

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

Doghmush. The family issued a statement denying the claim.

Killing of clan members in air strikes

On 15 November 2023, 44 members of the clan were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a mosque in Sabra, Gaza. Between the 17 November and the 17 December, Israeli forces committed two massacres against the family, carrying out a saturation bombing of the block the family was concentrated in within the Sabra Neighbourhood. The attack led to the death of 109 members of the clan, including the leader. Al Jazeera Mubasher published a list of dead family members it received from the ministry of health.

Spelling

The family originally came to Gaza from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in the early 20th century and as a result their name is also spelled using current Turkish orthography as ''Doğmuş'', pronounced "Doe-moosh", which means "born" using the inferential or dubitative past tense. Other possible spellings are ''Dogmosh'', ''Dugmash'', ''Dagmoush'', ''Dughmush'', ''Dogmush'', ''Durmush'' and ''Dormush''.

References

Palestinian families Palestinian people of Turkish descent Turkish families Culture of the Gaza Strip Crime in Palestine Crime families {{Family-stub