Inside the Hamas unit fighting Israeli-armed gangs that loot aid and facilitate displacement in Gaza
Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of Gaza’s Security Service, flanked by police officers on a field visit in Gaza City during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, 20 January 2025
Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau, Tareq S. Hajjaj and Faris Giacaman report on 6 June 2025:
The Israeli military is arming gangs to combat Hamas in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Thursday. The revelation comes to light after right-wing Israeli lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman accused Netanyahu on Israeli public broadcaster Kan yesterday of arming a gang of hundreds of men in Rafah as a counterweight to Hamas influence in the Strip. The Prime Minister’s office responded by saying that it was combating the Palestinian resistance group “in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment.”
Later, Netanyahu officially confirmed the reports in a video posted on X. “On the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas,” the Israeli Prime Minister said. “What’s wrong with that? It only saves the lives of Israeli soldiers.”
“Publishing this only benefits Hamas, but Lieberman doesn’t care,” Netanyahu added.
Among these groups is an armed gang led by a man named Yasser Abu Shabab, a thief and drug trafficker from Rafah who led groups of hundreds of armed men in looting aid convoys during the latter half of 2024. Descended from the influential Bedouin Tarabin clan, which spans southern Gaza, the Sinai, and the Naqab Desert, Abu Shabab has been described by Israeli media outlets as “linked to ISIS,” likely due to Abu Shabab’s involvement in drug trafficking networks between Gaza and the Sinai in which ISIS has been implicated.
Now, Israel openly admits to backing and arming Abu Shabab’s group, which in effect is an open admission that it has been backing the looting of food aid meant for Gaza’s starving population.