Israeli opposition leader and former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arming a gang in southern Gaza that’s affiliated with ISIS, a charge that has been confirmed by Israeli officials.
“The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with the Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister,” Liberman said. “To my knowledge, this did not go through approval by the cabinet.”
Liberman compared the arming of the criminal gang to Netanyahu’s previous strategy of propping up Hamas as a counter to the Palestinian Authority. “No one can guarantee that these weapons will not be directed at Israel. We have no way of monitoring or tracking them,” he said.
An initial statement released by Netanyahu’s office didn’t deny the allegation. “Israel is acting to defeat Hamas in various and diverse ways, upon the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment,” the office said.
Later, Netanyahu confirmed that Israel has been arming “clans” in southern Gaza. “On the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas. This is only good and saves the lives of IDF soldiers. The publication of this only benefits Hamas – but Lieberman doesn’t care,” he said, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Israeli military sources told The Times of Israel that Israel has been arming a group described as a “criminal gang of jihadists” led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a member of one of the largest clans in southern Gaza. Israel has been providing Abu Shabab’s gang with Kalashnikov rifles, including some that were seized from Hamas.
According to the Times, Hamas sources speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper said that members of Abu Shabab’s gang belong to an extremist Salafi faction that has had run-ins with Hamas.
Abu Shabab’s gang has been operating in Israeli-controlled areas of southern Gaza and has been involved in looting aid shipments. Last year, an internal UN memo identified Abu Shabab’s gang as “the main and most influential stakeholder behind systematic and massive looting” of aid trucks. Haaretz also reported last year that the Israeli military was allowing armed gangs to loot aid convoys and extort protection fees from drivers.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Abu Shabab admitted that he and his group “take from trucks” but claimed they didn’t touch “food, tents, or supplies for children.” According to a report from The New Arab, Abu Shabab is affiliated with Shadi al-Soufi, another gang leader who was detained by Hamas in 2020 over an alleged murder. The report said al-Soufi fled Gaza with the help of ISIS and returned following the start of Israel’s genocidal war.
Abu Shabab, who was imprisoned by Hamas for drug trafficking before an Israeli airstrike allowed him to escape, recently released a video where he said his new armed group “cleared” eastern Rafah of Hamas fighters and said Palestinians could return to the area, which is under the control of the IDF.
Yair Golan, another Israeli opposition leader and retired IDF general, slammed Netanyahu for arming the gang in a post on X. “Netanyahu, who transferred billions to Hamas in cash suitcases, based on a misguided notion that Hamas is an ‘asset’ and that it would end in flip-flops, is now promoting a new dangerous notion: arming a Gazan militia with ties to ISIS,” he said.
“Netanyahu is dangerous to Israel’s security. Instead of securing a deal, creating arrangements with the moderate Sunni axis, and bringing back the hostages and security to Israel’s citizens, he is creating a new ticking bomb in Gaza,” Golan added.
