Israel-backed militias tout themselves as part of Gaza’s post-war solution

AMMAN, Jordan — Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire earlier this year, calling into question the fate of the militias that Israel has trained as an alternative ruling force in Gaza during the devastating two-year war. Many hoped that Hamas, still the dominant force in the Strip, would hunt them down.

Instead, Israel moved militias to the half of Gaza where it had not yet withdrawn, east of the Yellow Line, the military border that divides Gaza in two. In the Israeli-controlled half, five groups still backed by Israel with weapons and aid have essentially established small fiefdoms while continuing to wage a campaign of harassment along the Yellow Line to prevent Hamas from re-establishing its rule.

Israel, for its part, wants to use the groups as local proxies to secure parts of the region under its control, ensure they are clear of any hostile groups, and then set up humanitarian distribution points to keep residents there.

According to a June report by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Israeli-backed militias in Gaza, “the goal is to cut off Hamas’ access to both the local population and incoming humanitarian aid.”

But the militias, which first emerged as criminal gangs exploiting a wartime security vacuum and include members with suspected links to the Islamic State, have bigger plans: They present themselves as an integral part of any post-conflict plan.

“After two years of destruction by Hamas, we are the nucleus of a new Gaza that will provide a dignified life for Gaza’s citizens,” said Hussam Al-Astal, head of a group called the Counter-Terrorist Strike Force, which controls a mostly unpopulated village southwest of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. He said Israel was working with five different groups operating in Israeli-controlled parts of the region.

He added that he had hundreds of militiamen under his command; This contradicts observers who say the total number of fighters in the five groups is around 200.

“Israel is now looking for a peace partner in Gaza,” Al-Astal said. “So will we.”

The largest of the groups working with Israel is the so-called Popular Forces, until recently led by 32-year-old Yasser Abu Shabaab, who was twice imprisoned by Hamas before the war on drug trafficking charges; and is known to have ties to the Islamic State in neighboring Sinai. He escaped from Hamas prison during the war.

Abu Shabab, accused by humanitarian groups of regularly looting aid trucks, was assassinated by disgruntled members of his militia earlier this month, according to a statement from Abu Shabab’s clan.

He was soon replaced by his deputy, Ghassan Al-Duhini (39); The man once served as a security guard for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, then left in 2015 to join Jaish al-Islam, a Gaza-based armed group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Al-Duhini reportedly coordinated smuggling with militant groups in Sinai. He was also arrested twice by Hamas before the war and fled when the war began.

Since the ceasefire, Israel has been working as a proxy through the Popular Forces in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, which was almost completely razed during the war and razed by Israeli forces.

The city is now mostly empty. But the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center – the body expected to oversee the ceasefire, coordinate aid deliveries and initiate reconstruction in the region – is considering Rafah as a pilot for a so-called “alternative safe community of 10,000 to 15,000 people” without Hamas, according to a United Nations official and an aid worker who declined to speak freely.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Mar-a-Lago on Monday, where he was meeting with President Trump and several U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who Netanyahu said had a “great meeting” on Channel X.

Netanyahu was ready to discuss implementing the second phase of the ceasefire, which called for an interim authority to govern the Gaza Strip as well as an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to replace Israel. Both points are problematic for Israel, which is reluctant to move to the second phase without seeing Hamas disarmed.

Plans call for Gaza to be governed by a Trump-led Peace Council, which would also oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.1 million. But Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and one of the driving forces behind October’s ceasefire agreement, said some reconstruction could be underway in Rafah.

If that happens, the aid official said, it would mean “the United States would cooperate with a security force aligned with ISIS.”

The aid worker said of Al-Duhini: “There are much better partners in Gaza than this man.”

In a propaganda video recently released by the group, Al-Duhini addresses a group of gunmen, telling them they are working as part of the Trump-led Peace Board and International Stabilization Force that are supposed to oversee the ceasefire.

“We will sweep away grains of sand from Rafah one by one” to eliminate “terrorism” and allow civilians to return to the area, he says. “We want to create a safe society”

What this means in practice, according to analysts and people living in areas under Popular Forces control, is tight security, with militias regularly seizing and examining people’s phones, preventing them from communicating with anyone in Hamas-controlled areas, and searching homes.

“They are treating them like prisoners,” said Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He added that Israel provided groups with capture or kill lists for various Hamas members in Gaza and supervised interrogations.

Meanwhile, militias also conducted hit-and-run operations against Hamas operatives, killing many when the opportunity arose; Popular Forces said they killed 50 Hamas members in June.

On Monday, Hamas confirmed that some of its top commanders were killed in Israeli strikes last year.

Among the leaders killed was Mohammed Sinwar, head of its military wing, the Qassam Brigade, head of production and chief of staff. Abu Ubaida, the masked spokesman who was last seen giving a speech in September, was also killed; the group identified her as Huthaifa Al-Kahlout. Israel previously announced its identity in 2023.

The groups have also acted on Israel’s behalf: Last week, a group called the People’s Defense Army, based near Gaza City, opened fire on people’s homes in a neighborhood in the east of the city, forcing residents to flee the area. Observers said the purpose of this was to allow Israel to move the Yellow Line westward. (The location of the Yellow Line was determined during the ceasefire, but Israel continued to move it west.)

According to Al-Astal, the five militias plan to combine their efforts soon by establishing a military council that could serve as an interim government in the event of the fall of Hamas. He said international recognition would help.

There are signs of support beyond Israel. Popular Forces fighters have appeared in vehicles marked United Arab Emirates, and some groups claim peripheral ties to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority has denied any connection.

“We hope that better things will come and our presence will expand,” he said. He added that he expects that when this happens, people in Hamas-controlled areas will move east to the control of militias.

“I’m telling you, if the road ahead was open, there wouldn’t be a single soul left in the Hamas-ruled areas of Gaza other than a few Hamas fighters,” he said.