Yasser Abu Shabab escaped prison and has since emerged as an Israeli-backed militia leader in southern Gaza.
In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to arming and supporting the Popular Forces militia in Gaza to oppose Hamas.
“What’s wrong with this?” he said in a short video he tweeted. “It only saves the lives of Israeli soldiers.”
He did not clarify what the Popular Forces would do exactly, but experts believe Israel is backing the militia and its leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, to put a Palestinian face on the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
The 31-year-old Abu Shabab, a previously unknown member of Gaza’s Tarabin Bedouin tribe, escaped prison around October 7, having been imprisoned since 2015 for drug-related charges.
