(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Israel is backing four militias that plan to fight against Hamas and are currently operating under the watch of the IDF in the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza, Sky News reported on Saturday.
Hossam al-Astal, the leader of one of the groups based in southern Gaza, said that all four groups are part of a coordinated effort to take over Gaza. “We are all for the new Gaza. Soon, we will achieve full control of the Gaza Strip and will gather under one umbrella,” he told Sky News.
The term “new Gaza” has previously been used by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, when discussing plans to allow reconstruction in Israeli-occupied Gaza and not in areas under the control of Hamas.
“No reconstruction funds will be going into areas that Hamas still controls,” Kushner, who has been deeply involved in the Gaza negotiations, said during a visit to Israel last week.
“There are considerations happening now in the area that the IDF controls, as long as that can be secured, to start the construction as a new Gaza in order to give the Palestinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs, a place to live.”
The largest group Israel is backing is a gang led by Yasser Abu Shabab, who admitted to looting aid trucks in 2024. Some members of his group, which is also based in southern Gaza, have ties to ISIS, according to Israeli media. The Sky News report said that a senior commander in the Abu Shabab gang said the group has between 500 and 700 fighters and that Israel has been allowing them to smuggle cash, weapons, and vehicles into Gaza.
Al-Astal said that his militia has acquired a large number of Hamas weapons from the black market in Gaza and also receives supplies, including ammunition, from abroad. He said the group also receives a weekly delivery of everyday items to support civilians living in the camp. He claimed that the militias have backing from Western states and Arab countries.
Al-Astal also suggested that the Palestinian Authority has been supporting the effort, though the PA has previously denied that it’s involved with the militias. “The Palestinian Authority cannot allow itself to admit to having a direct relationship with us. I have people within my group who are still, to this day, employees of the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
Two other militias are based in northern Gaza under the protection of the IDF. Israel has previously launched airstrikes against Hamas while they were fighting against one of the Israeli-backed militias.
Al-Astal told Sky News that he was previously in prison over accusations that he was involved in an assassination attempt against a Hamas official and escaped after October 7, 2023. “When the war started, they left us locked up, hoping the Israelis would bomb the prison and rid them of us,” he said. “Two months later, we broke down the doors and escaped.”
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
