Israel arms Palestinian militia to counter Hamas

Israel is arming the Popular Force, which controls a slice of southern Gaza as part of a plan to build up local resistance to Hamas, offering a glimpse into its post-war vision for the Strip.

Israel is arming a small Palestinian militia that controls a slice of territory in southern Gaza as part of a plan to build up local resistance to Hamas, offering a glimpse into its post-war vision for the Strip.

The head of the militia, Yasser Abu Shabab, has been given arms by the Israeli military that it found inside Gaza during the war, according to an Israeli official. A video released this week by Abu Shabab’s militia, which calls itself the Popular Force, shows armed men carrying what appeared to be M16 and Kalashnikov rifles patrolling the streets.

Yasser Abu Shabab is a notorious gangster in Gaza. Picture: Supplied

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video posted to his Instagram page, confirmed that Israel is arming groups in Gaza opposed to Hamas after an opposition lawmaker publicly talked about the Israeli effort and portrayed Abu Shabab’s group as a terrorist organisation.

“What’s wrong with this? It is good. It saves the lives of Israeli soldiers,” Netanyahu said.

Abu Shabab, 34, denies that he is armed by Israel and says he is instead backed by the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority didn’t respond to requests for comment, but a spokesman for its security forces said the group doesn’t possess any weapons in Gaza.

The territory Abu Shabab claims in southern Gaza is under Israeli military control.

Abu Shabab has been accused by Hamas of looting humanitarian aid, a charge he similarly levelled against the US-designated terrorist group. In November, Abu Shabab told The Wall Street Journal that he “took over” aid that entered Gaza to provide food for the people under his protection who live in the Shouka neighbourhood in southern Gaza. On Thursday, he said in another interview with the Journal that 20 new families had joined his territory, where they are given food, medicine and protection from Hamas and Israel. He says his goal is to keep the people under his protection from being displaced.

“Our plan is to live with dignity,” he said. “It is no surprise they call us collaborators – but we are simply steadfast people who chose to remain.”

After 20 months of war, Israel has failed to fully rout Hamas from Gaza, in part because it has never replaced its rule with alternative Palestinian leadership. Netanyahu has refused to allow the Palestinian Authority, the semi-autonomous body that oversees parts of the West Bank, to rule Gaza. Netanyahu has said that he instead is seeking local partners on the ground in Gaza who are unaffiliated with either Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

But backing Abu Shabab, who earlier in the war ran a gang that looted humanitarian aid, brings significant risks. Hamas accuses him of being a criminal and an Israeli collaborator. He also doesn’t appear to have broad political support from the population.

“Israel’s aim is to create a local, loyalist and parallel force,” said Hasan Abu Hanieh, an expert on Islamic groups based in Amman, Jordan.

“But for such a force to gain public acceptance, it would require some form of legitimacy.” Abu Shabab and many of his men were known criminals under Hamas rule, said Abu Hanieh, and are now taking the opportunity to seize some power as Hamas struggles to maintain its grip on the Strip. But Abu Hanieh said the group will struggle to evolve into a political body that can govern Gaza. “And this is Israel’s dilemma: It seeks an alternative to Hamas, but finds no one capable of filling that role.”

After Israeli lawmaker Avigdor Liberman on Thursday said Israel was arming Abu Shabab, Hamas released a statement saying, “the Israeli occupation army is arming criminal gangs in the Gaza Strip in a calculated effort to create security and societal chaos, and to advance the occupation’s schemes of engineered starvation and organised theft of humanitarian aid.”

Members of Abu Shabab's gang in Gaza. Picture: Supplied.

Hamas and Abu Shabab’s forces have gotten into deadly battles. In November, Hamas targeted Abu Shabab’s group in Khan Younis, killing at least 20 people including Abu Shabab’s brother, according to Abu Shabab. He also said he closed the road between Khan Younis and Rafah after his brother’s killing. Hamas again in late May tried to kill Abu Shabab, releasing a video of the attempt and calling him an Israeli spy.

In a separate video posted Wednesday on Facebook by Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces, the group alleges that Hamas steals humanitarian aid from the people. Israel alleges that Hamas steals aid to fund its war effort, an allegation the group denies.

“We put an end to the disgrace of theft, begging, and exploitation of people’s suffering, and distributed the aid freely to the displaced in eastern Rafah,” a voice-over says in the video.

Another video released by the group shows masked militia members wearing tactical vests and helmets patrolling streets, stopping to communicate with convoys from the United Nations and the Red Cross. Their uniforms had Palestinian flags on them, similar to those worn by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.

It is a sign of the efforts Abu Shabab is making to project control and power. His group says it now has a media office. He wouldn’t say how large his militia is but noted his numbers are growing.

From a large Bedouin tribe, Abu Shabab has characterised his group as homegrown. “Our weapons are primitive – tribal weapons, not Israeli or Hamas weapons,” he said. “We are Bedouins, and in every Bedouin household, especially in the eastern areas, there are weapons.” He denied being a criminal before the war, saying he sold vegetables. Still, when he admitted to looting aid in November to the Journal, he said that he was “not an angel.” Michael Milstein, a former head of Palestinian affairs for Israeli military intelligence, said the plan has low chances of working because of Abu Shabab’s background as a looter and his lack of any broad support within Gaza.

“I’m quite sure Hamas is going to smash them,” he said. “The likelihood of this little emirate to succeed is very low.”

Dow Jones