What do we know about the Israeli-backed Palestinian militias looting and terrorizing Gaza?
NEW YORK CITY: A investigation this week by the newspaper Haaretz revived scrutiny of a network of armed Palestinian militias that operate in Israeli-controlled parts of Gaza with weapons, funding and protection provided by the Israeli military.
The origins of the militia project can be traced to the early months of Israel’s Rafah offensive in May 2024, when a small armed group calling itself the Popular Forces began operating in areas under Israeli control in southern Gaza.
Its leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, was a member of the Bedouin Abu Shabab clan who in October 2023 escaped from a Hamas prison where he was serving time on theft and drug-trafficking charges.
The role of Israeli authorities in arming the group was not publicly acknowledged until June 2025, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that “on the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas.”
