
Israel is working with local Palestinian clans to counter Hamas, says Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his government has "activated" certain Palestinian clans in Gaza as part of its fight against Hamas. In a video message posted on social media platform X on Thursday, Netanyahu stated that the decision was taken based on advice from "security officials" with the goal of protecting Israeli soldiers' lives.Netanyahu's statement came shortly after he faced criticism from the political rivals for reportedly arming non-official Palestinian factions in the region.advertisementCLANS LIKE ABU SHABAB INVOLVED IN GAZA AID EFFORTSSome Palestinian families and clans in Gaza have long held influence over local areas. They also possess weapons. These clans have had a complicated relationship with Hamas, including past conflicts. An Israeli official, speaking anonymously due to restrictions, said that one of the groups Netanyahu referred to is the Abu Shabab clan.
In recent weeks, the Abu Shabab group posted online that its members were involved in securing aid convoys linked to a new distribution system supported by Israel in southern Gaza. This cooperation is being positioned by Israel as a way to bypass Hamas control while ensuring humanitarian aid continues to flow.Must Watch

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Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
‘Even at Rs 2,347, I couldn't say no': Gaza father buys Parle-G in war zone for daughter, shares heartbreaking viral post
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India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
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Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
‘It's saving lives': Israel admits to supporting anti-Hamas armed group in Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel is supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes the militant group Hamas, following comments by a former minister that Israel had transferred weapons to it. Israeli and Palestinian media have reported that the group Israel has been working with is part of a local Bedouin tribe led by Yasser Abu Shabab. The European Council on Foreign Relations (EFCR) think tank describes Abu Shabab as the leader of a "criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks". Knesset member and ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu's direction, was "giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons". "What did Lieberman leak? ... That on the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas. What is bad about that?" Netanyahu said in a video posted to social media on Thursday. "It is only good, it is saving lives of Israeli soldiers." Michael Milshtein, an expert on Palestinian affairs at the Moshe Dayan Center in Tel Aviv, told AFP that the Abu Shabab clan was part of a Bedouin tribe that spans across the border between Gaza and Egypt's Sinai peninsula. Some of the tribe's members, he said, were involved in "all kinds of criminal activities, drug smuggling, and things like that". Army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin on Friday confirmed the military supported arming local militias in Gaza but remained tight-lipped on the details. "I can say that we are operating in various ways against Hamas governance," Defrin said during a televised press conference when questioned on the subject, without elaborating further. Milshtein said that Abu Shabab had spent time in prison in Gaza and that his clan chiefs had recently denounced him as an Israeli "collaborator and a gangster". "It seems that actually the Shabak (Israeli security agency) or the (military) thought it was a wonderful idea to turn this militia, gang actually, into a proxy, to give them weapons and money and shelter" from army operations, Milshtein said. He added that Hamas killed four members of the gang days ago. The ECFR said Abu Shabab was "reported to have been previously jailed by Hamas for drug smuggling. His brother is said to have been killed by Hamas during a crackdown against the group's attacks on UN aid convoys." Israel regularly accuses Hamas, with which it has been at war for nearly 20 months, of looting aid convoys in Gaza. Hamas said the group had "chosen betrayal and theft as their path" and called on civilians to oppose them. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, said it had evidence of "clear coordination between these looting gangs, collaborators with the occupation (Israel), and the enemy army itself in the looting of aid and the fabrication of humanitarian crises that deepen the suffering of" Palestinians. The Popular Forces, as Abu Shabab's group calls itself, said on Facebook it had "never been, and will never be, a tool of the occupation". "Our weapons are simple, outdated and came through the support of our own people," it added. Milshtein called Israel's decision to arm a group such as Abu Shabab "a fantasy, not something that you can really describe as a strategy". "I really hope it will not end with catastrophe," he said.