Israeli tactics leave dangerous security vacuum in Gaza which Hamas continues to exploit

The Journal

4 days ago

Hana Salah
Palestinian journalist
ISRAEL'S CONTINUING ASSAULTS on Gaza cause daily devastations for the people of Palestine. The starvation of children has become the most visible and derided of those consequences.
But last month's killing of 18 Palestinian humanitarian workers, allegedly by Hamas affiliates, also points to a less discussed impact: the dangers of escalating internal lawlessness due to Israel's systematic dismantling of the usual governance mechanisms in Gaza.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights says Israeli strikes have systematically dismantled these mechanisms – by targeting police stations, courthouses and prisons.
That has left a dangerous security vacuum.
Hamas, and other gangs, continue to exploit the gap.
On 11 June, at least 18 people working for the US-Israel backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) were killed when the bus they were travelling in was ambushed by gunmen.
The incident received little media or public attention in June.
What exactly happened on 11 June?
According to family interviews and statements, the attackers stopped the bus and accused the workers of collaborating with Israel before unleashing a brutal assault that initially left 11 people dead.
About another 17 were injured. Bereaved families now say that at least seven of those 17 were later killed later inside Nasser Hospital, where they had initially been taken for treatment, bringing the death toll to 18.
No group has officially claimed responsibility but families of the victims say the attackers were members of the armed Sahem unit, which is affiliated with Hamas.
The GHF claimed in a public statement that Hamas gunmen were behind the killings and called for an independent investigation.
Hamas, which governs Gaza but has seen its authority fray during the war, has not commented publicly on the incident.
However, survivors of the attack say they were targeted because the Sahem unit believed they were members of the Israel-backed Abu Shabab gang.
Why were they targeting GHF workers?
The GHF, which has controversially, ineffectively and dangerously become the sole provider of food aid in parts of Gaza after Israeli authorities restricted UN agency operations, has faced scrutiny from multiple sides.
Some local groups accuse it of serving US interests and consider its operations as 'death traps' because of a lack of proper security protocols.
The Palestinian workers were erroneously accused by the Hamas unit of being Abu Shabab gang members because of GHF's links to Israel.
'They were beaten, shot, humiliated'
'What happened was not a mistake. It was a crime,' says local journalist Alaa Al-Helou about the bus ambush.
'They were beaten, shot, humiliated — and then denied medical help in the hospital. And all because of a false accusation.'
According to the families' statement, armed men stopped the GHF vehicle before beating the driver and passengers with sticks and rifle butts. They then shot some of them in the legs.
Survivors say they were stripped of their belongings and dragged onto the street, where bystanders, incited by the attackers, joined in the assault.
'They forced us off the bus and made us lie on the ground. Then they began beating and shooting us, one by one,' said Younis Abu Shaloof, 18, and a survivor of the attack.
'When the armed men left, people thought we were part of Abu Shabab gang and collaborating with Israel and started hitting us too. The ambulance took us to hospital in Khan Younis.'
Yousef was lucky as his family moved him from Nasser hospital in Kahn Younis to another field hospital in Deir Al-Balah, so he survived the second attack by the armed men in the hospital which killed at least seven others injured in the same incident.
'They hit me in the knee, and I passed out,'he recalls. 'When I came to, I saw another man next to me, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head.
'I smeared some of his blood on my own head and rubbed sand over my face, hoping the gunmen would think I was already dead — so they wouldn't shoot me again and finish me off.'
Contracting complications
One source, who spoke to
The Journal
on condition of anonymity, said that the GHF had contracted a bus company for transportation and subcontracted Al-Khuzundar Company to supply the labourers.
On 26 May 2025, the Al-Khozendar family — to which the head of the subcontractor company working with the GHF belongs — issued a public statement disowning Mohammad Mohsen Al-Khozendar for his alleged collaboration with a US firm involved in Israeli military projects.
The statement, rooted in tribal and social norms in Gaza, condemned any logistical or engineering work that supports such initiatives as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause, and stressed that the company bearing the family name does not represent the family or its values.
The transportation company, the source added, claimed it had been communicating with Hamas-affiliated internal security forces to coordinate the workers' movement in the designated humanitarian area. They also had an oral coordination with the Israeli army.
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'The Israeli army contacted the Palestinian coordinator (sub-contractor) through phone to allow or stop the movement but that doesn't guarantee the bus, or any coordinated movement is protected from strikes, shots, bombing,' the source added.
Who knew about the bus movement at that hour?
A member of another bereaved family said the bus had been waiting for coordination approval when the attack occurred.
'The bus was waiting for clearance, and the armed men struck nearly an hour after coordination calls began,' the source said.
This could suggest that some security sources were already aware of its coordination request.'
Youssef recalls the armed men asking them if they were with the Abu Shabab gang which is backed by the Israeli army.
'They asked us if we were working with Abu Shabab, but we denied,' Youssef said.
'I'm too afraid to leave my home now,' said the survivor Youssef. 'I will never work for the American organisation again.
Better to die by an Israeli airstrike than be killed as a 'traitor' by our own people.'
In the fragmented landscape of Gaza's ongoing war, the Abu Shabab militia has emerged as a controversial player, reportedly collaborating with Israeli forces while launching attacks on Hamas-linked units such as the Sahem Unit.
The group is believed to be operating out of Rafah's eastern border and was formed during the current conflict.
Its leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, 34, is now at the centre of fierce accusations from the Joint Operations Room of Palestinian Resistance Factions, which has charged him with treason and leading an illegal armed group.
A Revolutionary Court has issued a 10-day deadline for his surrender, warning he will otherwise be tried in absentia.
Security body seize bus
Formally, no group has claimed responsibility. Hamas has not commented. The day after the incident, Abu Shabab denied the images of the killings showed members of its militia, according to
EuroNews
.
But a month on from the attack, the Hamas Interior Ministry issued a statement banning all forms of collaboration or work with the GHF.
The bus involved in the attack was seized by a security body in Gaza, according to sources. Witnesses said no one was allowed to approach the vehicle, and individuals who attempted to do so were reportedly beaten.
There have been other killings of suspected Israel collaborators during the lawless chaos of the conflict. However, other innocent civilians have also been mistakenly targeted.
On 26 September 2024, Islam Hejazi, Gaza Programme Director at the US-based charity Shifa' Palestine, was shot dead by armed men in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Gunmen in three vehicles opened fire on the car she was travelling in, firing around 90 bullets.
Her family said government officials later told them it was a case of mistaken identity — her vehicle had been wrongly suspected of resembling one linked to a wanted man accused of collaboration.
Hejazi, a mother of two, was described by Shifa' Palestine as a dedicated humanitarian 'of the highest integrity and professionalism'. The charity said it remained committed to serving Gaza in her memory.
Dismantling of public order
In a strongly worded statement, the Independent Commission for Human Rights condemned the Khan Younis attack as an extrajudicial killing and a serious breach of international law.
It warned of a disturbing rise in armed groups acting outside any official framework, and called for an urgent, independent investigation to restore public trust and uphold the rule of law.
A lawyer associated with a human rights organisation in Gaza talked to
The Journal
on condition of anonymity due to potential risk to his safety, and said his organisation and others are working to document cases of extrajudicial killings and vigilante violence, but stressed the extreme difficulty of collecting accurate data during an ongoing war.
'It is nearly impossible to provide precise numbers at this stage,' he told
The Journal.
'The war has made documentation extremely difficult — especially during the period when Gaza was effectively divided between the north and south.'
He added that many killings have not been officially investigated by the Public Prosecution or the Ministry of Health, leaving their motives unclear.
'It is often unknown whether these were revenge attacks, personal disputes, or related to allegations of collaboration with the occupation,' he said.
'There are certainly killings, but in many cases, the reasons remain undetermined — particularly under the current conditions of war.'
Looting
During the 11 June, the Hamas unit targeted workers which the group erroneously identified as Israel collaborators. Meanwhile, the United Nations last week said that 766 aid-seeking Palestinians have been killed in the vicinity of GHF sites – mostly by the IDF. UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told the AFP news agency that these almost 800 victims were killed by Israeli military actions.
That death toll has since increased.
The collapse of civil order in Gaza has also been highlighted by the UN Protection Cluster, which warned that humanitarian efforts are being severely disrupted.
In a recent update, the group said aid delivery is hindered not only by Israeli restrictions and access barriers, but also by growing lawlessness within Gaza, fuelled in part by Israeli strikes on civilian police infrastructure.
It noted that the breakdown in law enforcement has led to increased looting and attacks on humanitarian convoys.
The closure of the Rafah crossing since May 2024 — aside from limited evacuations of medical cases — has further compounded the crisis. Israeli military operations and an ongoing siege, particularly in northern Gaza since October, have deepened insecurity and worsened conditions for civilians and aid workers alike.
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