Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that Israel is backing an armed faction in Gaza that opposes Hamas, amid widespread criticism and warnings from security experts about empowering what has been described as a criminal gang.

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His remarks follow claims by former defence minister Avigdor Liberman that weapons were transferred to the group at Netanyahu’s direction.

“What did Liberman leak? That security sources activated a clan in Gaza that opposes Hamas? What is bad about that?” Netanyahu said in a video posted Thursday. “It is only good, it is saving the lives of Israeli soldiers.”

According to news agency

AFP

, the group in question is linked to a local Bedouin tribe in Rafah and led by Yasser Abu Shabab, described by the European Council on Foreign Relations as heading a “criminal gang” accused of looting aid trucks.

The ECFR also said Hamas had previously jailed Abu Shabab for drug smuggling.

Israeli and Palestinian media have reported that this group, calling itself the Popular Forces, has received weapons, money and shelter from Israeli security forces.

Hamas recently claimed that the group had “chosen betrayal and theft as their path” and accused them of working in coordination with the Israeli army to loot humanitarian aid and fabricate crises in Gaza.

Michael Milshtein, a Palestinian affairs expert at Tel Aviv’s Moshe Dayan Center, was quoted by news agency

AFP

as saying that the Israeli decision to support Abu Shabab’s group “was a fantasy” and warned, “I really hope it will not end with catastrophe.”

The controversy comes at a time of deepening crisis in Gaza. Palestinians marked Eid al-Adha amid destroyed homes, with prayers held in the rubble of collapsed mosques and widespread food shortages.

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“There is no food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes,” said Kamel Emran in Khan Younis. “This is the worst feast that the Palestinian people have experienced.”

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack that killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Since then, more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Around 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced, and the United Nations warns that the entire territory is at risk of famine.

In response to aid looting and distribution challenges, Israel had backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new group of largely American contractors, as an alternative to the UN. However, amid rising violence, all its centres were shut on Friday. The Foundation urged residents to stay away from distribution points until further notice.

The Popular Forces, in a Facebook statement, denied collaborating with Israel. “Our weapons are simple, outdated, and came through the support of our own people,” it claimed. Despite this, four of its members were reportedly killed by Hamas in recent days, with local tribal leaders labelling Abu Shabab a “collaborator and gangster.”

As per AFP, Netanyahu’s decision has triggered serious concerns among Israeli analysts and critics who fear the move could destabilise the region further. “The Shabak or the military thought it was a wonderful idea to turn this militia, gang actually, into a proxy,” Milshtein said.

A murky new force has emerged in the southern Gaza Strip: a militia reportedly composed of local Bedouin fighters with alleged criminal ties and supposed ideological links to the Islamic State group.

Israeli opposition politicians, Palestinians, Arabic media, and think tanks have all pointed to Israeli backing for the militia, raising serious questions about Tel Aviv’s strategy in the war-torn enclave, with Prime Minister Benjamin admitting collusion with a Gaza tribal group.

The New Arab looks into who these new pro-Israel forces in Gaza are.

A ‘proxy militia’ to counter Hamas?

According to Haaretz, the Israeli government has been supplying weapons to a militia in Gaza affiliated with Yasser Abu Shabab, a figure linked to the powerful Bedouin Hamashah clan in Rafah.

The force reportedly operates under the names ‘The Popular Forces’ and ‘The Anti-Terrorism Unit’, and has been accused by Palestinians of looting aid trucks, collaborating with the Israeli army, and spreading lawlessness under the guise of fighting Hamas.

Former defence minister and current Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman was the first to publicly leak Israel’s direct involvement in backing the group.

In comments quoted by Haaretz, Lieberman accused the Netanyahu government of arming “a group of criminals and felons”. He claimed that the Israeli security establishment had transferred light weapons and assault rifles to the group, warning, “ultimately, these weapons will be turned against us”.

Who is Yasser Abu Shabab?

Yasser Abu Shabab is reportedly a well-connected figure in Rafah with allegations of links to criminal activity. Haaretz reported that he had previously served time in Gazan prisons for various offences, including theft.

During a November 2024 interview with The Washington Post, he did not deny that his group had looted aid but claimed they avoided taking supplies meant for children.

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) described Abu Shabab as the head of a “criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks”. His brother was reportedly killed by Hamas during crackdowns on attacks against UN aid convoys, and the group itself has been expelled from some tribal alliances due to accusations of collaboration with Israel and for thefts of humanitarian aid.

Ties to the Islamic State group and criminals

Arabic sources have also drawn attention to the group’s ideological leanings. According to The New Arab’s Arabic sister outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the militia evolved from a loosely organised criminal gang into a Salafi-jihadist group inspired by the Islamic State group.

The report claims Abu Shabab and his men were involved in drug and arms trafficking, often crossing the border between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai region, where IS-affiliated groups have operated for years.

Haaretz also reported that Lieberman directly linked the group to IS, saying: “The Hamasha clan are in essence lawless criminals who in recent years wanted to give themselves an ideological angle or spin, so they became Salafi [jihadists] and began identifying with ISIS.”

Though the group now brands itself as an “anti-terror” force, locals see little distinction between their behaviour and that of organised crime syndicates. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed also reported that the group rebranded from the Anti-Terrorism Unit to The Popular Forces in May 2025 – possibly to obscure its affiliations.

Israel’s response, ‘What’s bad about that?’

The Israeli government has not denied the allegations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the strategy, telling the public broadcaster Kan: “What did Liberman leak? That security sources activated a clan in Gaza that opposes Hamas? What is bad about that? It is only good – it is saving the lives of Israeli soldiers.”

Security analyst Michael Milshtein, from the Moshe Dayan Centre in Tel Aviv, described the decision to support Abu Shabab’s group as “a fantasy, not something that you can really describe as a strategy”. Speaking to AFP, Milshtein noted that the group had been denounced by its own tribal leaders as “collaborators and gangsters”, and said the Israeli army was offering them “weapons, money and shelter” in exchange for destabilising Hamas-controlled areas.

Hamas has fiercely condemned the group, accusing it of betrayal and complicity in creating artificial humanitarian crises. In an official statement, the group said it had “clear evidence of coordination between these looting gangs, collaborators with the occupation, and the enemy army itself”.

‘We are not a tool of the occupation’

In response to the accusations, The Popular Forces issued a statement denying any Israeli ties. “We have never been, and will never be, a tool of the occupation,” it said. “Our weapons are simple, outdated, and came through the support of our own people.”

Despite the denial, videos circulating on social media that appear to show well-equipped fighters wearing military gear, including helmets and vests emblazoned with the Palestinian flag and the label “Anti-Terror Service” in both Arabic and English, with speculation that the equipment was provided by Israel.

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CAIRO/JERUSALEM, June 5 (Reuters) – A U.S.- and Israeli-backed organisation distributing aid in Gaza reopened two sites on Thursday, a day after halting work in response to a series of deadly shootings close to its operations.

The U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said 26 truckloads of desperately needed food were handed out at two sites in southern Gaza’s Rafah area.

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The GHF, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, for alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week and had been running three sites earlier this week.

GHF’s interim director John Acree said in a statement that the group was looking to open more sites, including in north Gaza, and “ensure safe and more efficient delivery of lifesaving aid”.

The U.N. has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

“The failure to provide urgent therapeutic feeding and health services for children places thousands of lives at immediate risk, and could result in unnecessary and continued loss of life,” U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council in a note, seen by Reuters.

Meanwhile, Israel announced it had recovered the bodies of two dual-nationality Israeli-American hostages from Gaza. Gadi Hagi and his wife Judy Weinstein-Hagi were killed and taken to Gaza after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Fifty-six hostages remain in captivity, with fewer than half still believed to be alive.

The Israeli military has intensified operations in Gaza since breaking a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in March, taking more territory with the government pushing to wipe out the Islamist militant group.

At least 20 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Thursday, including four journalists in a hospital in the enclave’s north, local health authorities said. The military said that it had targeted an Islamic Jihad militant who was operating a command-and-control centre.

The Hamas-run government media office says that 225 journalists in Gaza have been killed since the war began.

The renewed military campaign has further isolated Israel amid mounting international pressure. On Wednesday, a U.S. veto blocked a U.N. Security Council draft resolution, backed by the 14 other members, demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and full, unrestricted aid access to Gaza.

Under global pressure, Israel allowed limited U.N.-led aid deliveries to resume on May 19. A week later, the relatively unknown GHF started a new aid distribution system that bypasses traditional relief agencies.

SERIES OF SHOOTINGS

The organisation halted distributions on Wednesday and said it was pressing Israeli forces to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its operations after dozens of Palestinians were shot dead near the Rafah site over three consecutive days.

Item 1 of 2 Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo [1/2] Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

The Israeli military said on Sunday and Monday its soldiers had fired warning shots, while on Tuesday they also fired warning shots before firing towards Palestinians that it said were advancing towards troops. GHF has said that aid was safely handed out from its sites without any incident.

The U.S. organisation, which uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to transport aid to its distribution points inside Gaza, from where it is collected, has said that it has so far distributed 8.48 million meals.

The U.N. and international humanitarian groups refuse to work with the GHF because they say aid distribution is essentially controlled by Israel’s military and forces the displacement of Palestinians by limiting distribution points to a few venues in central and southern Gaza.

Footage released by the GHF this week showed hundreds of Palestinians crowding its site in Rafah, collecting aid from piles of stacked boxes without any clear system of distribution.

Muslims around the world will begin celebrating Eid al Adha from Thursday, a holiday typically marked by slaughtering livestock, but in Gaza food is scarce after nearly two years of war and Israeli siege.

AID DISTRIBUTION

Israeli opposition lawmaker accused the government on Thursday of arming Palestinian militia perceived to be hostile to Hamas in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said later in a statement that Israel was acting “in various ways” on the recommendation of the security establishment. It did not deny Lieberman’s accusation.

Israeli media reported that Israel had transferred weapons to Yasser Abu Shabab , a leader of a large clan in the Rafah area, now under full Israeli army control.

Abu Shabab previously said that he was building up a force to secure aid deliveries into some parts of Gaza.

Hamas security officials told Reuters Abu Shabab was wanted for “collaborating with the occupation against his people”. They said Hamas forces had killed at least two dozen of his men before January in what they said were clashes with looters.

Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies. On Wednesday, a Palestinian transport company contracted by U.N. agencies suspended operations indefinitely after an armed gang intercepted its aid trucks in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, killing one driver and injuring another.

The war in Gaza has raged since Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in the October 2023 attack and took 251 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo, Alexander Cornwell and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem; additional reporting by Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Emily Rose in Jerusalem, Michelle Nichols in New York and Emma Farge in Geneva; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Sharon Singleton, Mark Heinrich and Tomasz Janowski

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Israel’s government has been accused of arming a Palestinian criminal gang whose members have allegedly looted humanitarian aid, in an apparent attempt to counter Hamas in Gaza.

Satellite images and videos verified by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz showed on Thursday that a new Palestinian militia has expanded its presence in southern Gaza, and is operating inside an area under the direct control of the Israel Defense Forces.

The group, which has also been accused of ties to jihadist groups, is reportedly led by a man known as Yasser abu Shabab, a Rafah resident from a Bedouin family, known locally for his involvement in criminal activity and the looting of humanitarian aid.

According to media reports, Abu Shabab’s group, which calls itself the “Anti-Terror Service”, consists of about 100 armed men who operate in eastern Rafah with the tacit approval of the Israeli armed forces. It has variously been described as a militia and a criminal gang.

The Times of Israel cited defence sources who said that Israel provided members of Abu Shabab’s faction with Kalashnikov assault rifles, including some weapons seized from Hamas. The operation was approved by Israel’s security cabinet and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the newspaper reported, noting that its article had been approved for publication by Israel’s military censor.

In a video posted on social media late on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel had “activated” some Palestinian clans in Gaza, on the advice of “security officials,” in order to save lives of Israeli soldiers.

The prime minister’s office had earlier said that “Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment.”

The former defence minister and opposition lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman repeated the allegations and alleged that Abu Shabab’s group was affiliated with the Islamic State terror group.

“The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister,” Lieberman, who heads the opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party, told Kan Bet public radio. “To my knowledge, this did not go through approval by the cabinet.”

The basis for Lieberman’s allegation of ties to IS was not clear. Abu Shabab’s group has previously been accused of involvement in smuggling operations linked to Egyptian jihadi groups.

A security official told Israeli news outlet Ynet that the arming of Abu Shabab was approved and led by the Shin Bet internal security service, and described the operation as “planned and managed”, with the goal of “reducing Israeli military casualties while systematically undermining Hamas through targeted strikes, infrastructure destruction and the promotion of rival local forces.”

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

View image in fullscreen Displaced Palestinians walk along a road to receive humanitarian aid packages from a US-backed foundation in Rafah on Thursday. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

In recent weeks, Abu Shabab has published anti-Hamas and anti-Palestinian Authority messages while promoting his militia’s efforts on Facebook.

Abu Shabab’s links with Israeli forces were confirmed by his family, which issued a statement last week formally disowning him.

“We, like everyone else, were surprised by video footage broadcast by the resistance showing the involvement of Yasser’s groups within a dangerous security framework, reaching the point of operating within undercover units and supporting the Zionist occupation forces, who are brutally killing our people,” the statement said.

“We affirm that we will not accept Yasser’s return to the family. We have no objection to those around him liquidating him immediately, and we tell you that his blood is forfeit.”

Abu Shabab has reportedly claimed his group were protecting aid convoys, while Hamas has accused him of looting the aid trucks.

On 28 May, Jonathan Whittall, the head of United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in occupied Palestinian territories said: “Israel has publicly claimed that the UN and NGO aid is being diverted by Hamas. But this doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces, and they were allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point into Gaza.”

When contacted by the Guardian, Whittall confirmed he was “referring to gangs such as Abu Shabab.”

On Wednesday, a labour union representing truck drivers in Gaza said it was halting transport of aid deliveries within the strip after an incident in which several truckers were shot dead by gunmen.

The Private Transport Association said it was calling the strike in response to an incident a day ago in which a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid was attacked by gunmen in the central Gaza.

“This crime is not the first of its kind, but it is by far the most serious in a series of recurring assaults aimed at obstructing relief operations and preventing vital aid from reaching hundreds of thousands of civilians facing dire humanitarian conditions,” the statement said.

Jihad Sleem, vice-president of the Special Transportation Association, who lost his relative, Mohammed al-Assar, in the attack, said he did not know who the gunmen were.

Asked if he suspected Abu Shabab was behind the killings, he said: “It wouldn’t surprise me if he was involved in these attacks. He’s a gangster.”

Jamal Risheq contributed to this report

By Palestine Chronicle Staff

UPDATE: Later on Thursday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following reports that he approved the arming of Abu Shabab, a criminal group in Gaza, as part of a strategy to undermine Hamas. “After Netanyahu stopped giving millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to giving weapons to organizations close to ISIS in Gaza, all off the cuff, all without strategic planning, all leading to more disasters,” Lapid posted on X.

Israel is arming “criminal gangs” in the besieged Gaza Strip, the former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Thursday.

“Israel transferred assault rifles and light weapons to criminal gangs in Gaza,” Lieberman, leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party, told the public broadcaster KAN, according to the Anadolu news agency.

He said the weapons were transferred to the gangs upon orders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

🚨Israel officially confirms it’s been arming ISIS-affiliated warlords, criminals, & drug dealers in Gaza as a proxy force Those gangs are the same ones looting UN aid, providing security to GHF, & carrying out recon missions on behalf of the IDF in Rafah pic.twitter.com/FQeTM4az31 — Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) June 5, 2025

“In my opinion, the Cabinet hasn’t approved the transfer of weapons, but the head of the General Security Service (Shin Bet) was aware,” he added.

“We are talking about what is equivalent to ISIS (Daesh) in Gaza. No one guarantees that these weapons will not be directed at Israel. We have no means of monitoring or tracking,” Lieberman said.

Netanyahu’s Confirmation

According to KAN, Netanyahu’s office did not deny arming groups in Gaza.

“Israel is working to defeat Hamas through various means, based on the recommendations of all the heads of the security establishment,” the office said in its response to KAN.

🔴 Astonishing revelation: Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, revealed: “The Israeli security establishment, under direct orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, secretly transferred weapons to criminal families and gangs in Gaza. This operation was… pic.twitter.com/6bXiox0tfK — Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) June 5, 2025

Shin Bet refused to comment on Lieberman’s statements, the Anadolu report said.

Israeli media earlier reported the rise of “armed criminal groups” in Gaza that attack Palestinians under Israeli army protection.

The weapons, including light arms confiscated from Hamas, were transferred to Yasser Abu Shabab’s militia that operates east of Rafah in areas controlled by the Israeli army, Al-Jazeera reported.

The report noted that the arming of Abu Shab’ab’s militia was an initiative by security agencies and the political leadership.

Militia ‘Wearing Military Gear’

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited two sources as saying that new militia had recently begun operating in southern Gaza, linked to Abu Shabab.

The paper said that videos circulating on social media in recent days “appear to support the claim, showing armed Palestinians in Gaza wearing standard military gear, including vests, helmets and insignia such as the Palestinian flag and a patch labeled ‘Anti-Terror Service’ in both English and Arabic.”

While the militia claims to be securing humanitarian aid convoys entering Gaza, the gang has been accused of looting the convoys, the Times of Israel reported.

History of Drug Smuggling

The Quds News Network (QNN) reported that Abu Shabab has a known history of drug smuggling and collaboration with extremist groups. His gang, consisting of over 200 armed individuals, has established a fortified base in an Israeli-controlled zone in Rafah.

Israel admits to arming Yasser Abu Shabab’s militia with Kalashnikovs — Times of Israel ‘Criminal gang’ operating in ‘cleared’ Rafah under IDF control Shahab accused of looting humanitarian aid he’s tasked to secure Arming greenlighted by Netanyahu, without cabinet’s approval https://t.co/UFzkzRELs3 pic.twitter.com/EDvBxjxhCy — RT (@RT_com) June 5, 2025

This area, referred to as a “death zone,” is typically inaccessible to Gaza residents, further raising suspicions of Israeli complicity in the gang’s activities, QNN reported.

Footage of Undercover Units

Last week, the Al-Qassam Brigades released footage showing Abu Shabab’s group engaging in Israeli covert operations, QNN said.

Some of these videos show Yasser’s men working in disguise alongside Israeli undercover units targeting Palestinians in Rafah.

🟢 Footage of the Al-Qassam Brigades targeting a musta’ribeen unit east of Rafah. Note: Musta’ribeen are undercover Arabs and Arab Jews/”Mizrahim” who work for the occupation. Usually israeli soldiers, here they seem to include bandits from local collaborator gangs. pic.twitter.com/ZAm3LSlovp — Farouq ☪☭🇵🇸 (@camaradafarouq) May 30, 2025

In response, the prominent Abu Shabab family in Gaza announced their complete disavowal of Abu Shabab for collaborating with Israel, QNN reported.

The report noted that the statement, issued by the elders and leaders of Abu Shabab family, “described the move as a painful but necessary decision,” and comes after growing evidence of Yasser’s role in Israeli-backed operations during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Ongoing Genocide

Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.

On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 54,000, wounding more than 125,000, with over 14,000 still missing.

Palestinians bid farewell to journalist Sulaiman Hani Hajjaj, killed in an Israeli strike, as they recited the Takbeerat of the Day of Arafat. pic.twitter.com/NUHoc4flAg — The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) June 5, 2025

Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.

Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.

(PC, AJA, AA, QNN)