Yasser Abu Shabab holding a gun, in an image posted on the Popular Forces’ social media account (Facebook\/Screengrab)<\/p>\n
In a small area of land in Rafah, a new group has emerged from the shadows of Israel\u2019s war on the Palestinian enclave<\/a>.<\/p>\n Led by drug smugglers, aid looters and militants linked to groups across the border in Egypt<\/a>, Popular Forces, as they call themselves, have been exercising their power in southern Gaza, under gang leader and former prisoner\u00a0Yasser Abu Shabab.<\/p>\n Last month, the group created a\u00a0new Facebook page<\/a>, with slick videos and a new logo.<\/p>\n The marketing drive coincided with Israel\u00a0admitting<\/a>\u00a0to arming Abu Shabab\u2019s gang, in what appears to be an attempt to sow chaos and embolden anti-Hamas elements in Gaza.<\/p>\n Middle East Eye takes a look at Abu Shabab, his associates, and why Israel<\/a> has chosen to lend its support.<\/p>\n Yasser Abu Shabab, born in eastern Rafah in the early 1990s, hails from the influential Tarabin Bedouin tribe, which stretches across the Sinai, Gaza and southern Israel.<\/p>\n He dropped out of school<\/a> at an early age, building a reputation for trafficking cigarettes, hashish and psychoactive drugs through tunnels and crossings into Gaza.<\/p>\n Family members say he smuggled items from Egypt and Israel.<\/p>\n In 2015, Hamas detained Abu Shabab on drug trafficking charges and eventually sentenced him to 25 years in prison.<\/p>\n But in October 2023, during the early days of the war on Gaza, Abu Shabab escaped the Asda prison in western Khan Younis, amid Israeli bombardment.<\/p>\n The circumstances around his escape remain murky.<\/p>\n Following their escape, Abu Shabab and his allies assembled a few hundred men and called themselves the Popular Forces in Arabic.<\/p>\n The group exerts control over an area of southern Gaza near the Kerem Shalom crossing, which connects Gaza, Israel and Egypt.<\/p>\n Abu Shabab has said<\/a> he leads \u201ca group of citizens from this community who have volunteered to protect humanitarian aid from looting and corruption\u201d.<\/p>\n On Facebook, the group describes itself as “a voice of truth against terrorism for a safe homeland for all”.<\/p>\n A leaked UN memo<\/a> described their base as a \u201cmilitary-like compound\u201d in a zone \u201crestricted, controlled and patrolled\u201d by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n According to Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Abu Shabab\u2019s gang is engaged in several activities.\u00a0These include, he writes<\/a>, looting UN aid and selling some of it on the black market; carrying out reconnaissance missions on behalf of Israeli authorities; and acting as a proxy militia for Israel in areas that it has depopulated.<\/p>\n It has also been accused of cooperating with the controversial Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).<\/p>\n An unnamed diplomatic official told CNN that the GHF, whether directly or indirectly, had contact with Abu Shabab.<\/p>\n The scandal-ridden<\/a> GHF has denied any involvement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have local Palestinian workers we are very proud of, but none is armed and they do not belong to Abu Shabab\u2019s organisation,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n In November, Abu Shabab\u00a0admitted<\/a> that his men had raided a few trucks.\u00a0\u201cWe are taking trucks so we can eat, not so we can sell,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery hungry person is taking aid.\u201d<\/p>\n Several truck drivers have accused Abu Shabab\u2019s forces of intercepting aid deliveries and forcing them to unload goods.<\/p>\n There were reports<\/a> in early May that Israeli forces attacked shop owners and police officers who were attempting to protect shops from looting and chaos caused by the gangsters.<\/p>\n Asaad al-Kafarna, a police officer in Gaza, was killed by Israeli forces near a restaurant on 2 May after pursuing gangsters accused of looting and collaborating with Israel\u2019s military.<\/p>\n Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli opposition politician, recently said<\/a> that Abu Shabab and his forces were connected to the Islamic State group, or Isis (IS).<\/p>\n Andreas Krieg, an academic at King’s College London and an expert on security, told MEE: “While some individuals from the tribe have been involved in smuggling and, in some cases, collaborated with Sinai-based Isis affiliates, the tribe itself is not ideologically aligned with jihadist groups.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, many Tarabin members in Sinai have fought against Isis alongside the Egyptian military.\u201d<\/p>\n Key figures in Abu Shabab\u2019s groups have longstanding links with militant groups.<\/p>\n One of them, Issam al-Nabahin, joined<\/a>\u00a0the Sinai\u00a0chapter of IS in the mid-2010s.<\/p>\n According to media reports, he was part of a group of Palestinians who fought in the insurgency against Egypt\u2019s army, and were involved in the killing of civilians.<\/p>\n Hamas and Egypt cooperated to arrest and kill the militants, but Nabahin evaded capture.<\/p>\n Nabahin re-emerged in 2023, when Hamas arrested him and sentenced him to death. But he escaped before his execution\u00a0and has since resurfaced as part of Abu Shabab\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n Another senior figure in the Popular Forces is Ghassan al-Dahini. He was formerly an official in the Army of Islam, a Palestinian group allied with IS in Sinai.<\/p>\n He reportedly managed smuggling and communications between the Army of Islam and militant groups in Sinai.<\/p>\n Dahini has been arrested at least twice by Hamas police in Gaza. During one arrest attempt, he killed a Palestinian policeman.<\/p>\n He, like Nabahin and Abu Shabab, escaped imprisonment following the outbreak of Israel\u2019s war. He now serves<\/a> as the deputy of the Popular Forces.<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has admitted to arming Abu Shabab\u2019s gang.<\/p>\n \u201c”We made use of clans in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas\u2026 What’s wrong with that?\u201d he said<\/a>\u00a0in a post on X last week. “It’s only good. It saves the lives of Israeli soldiers.”<\/p>\n The gangs have been armed with Kalashnikovs and pistols that were taken by Israeli forces from Hamas and Hezbollah, according to Maariv.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Shin Bet security service, Maariv reported<\/a>, suggested that even if Abu Shabab were to turn around and point the weapons towards Israel, the effect would be negligible.<\/p>\n Krieg said that it was a \u201ccalculated strategy\u201d to reduce Israel\u2019s military and administrative burden in Gaza by \u201ccultivating local surrogate actors\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBy leveraging tribal networks and local knowledge, groups like the Popular Forces enable Israel to exert indirect control while avoiding the reputational and operational costs of reoccupation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Krieg said that the presence of the Popular Front forces Hamas to fight on multiple fronts, undermining its monopoly on coercive power.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough the Popular Forces lack popular legitimacy and are widely seen as criminal collaborators, their utility lies in their ability to destabilise Hamas from within,\u201d said Krieg.<\/p>\n Hamas has killed at least 50 members of Abu Shabab\u2019s forces, the group said<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n Ynet reported that Abu Shabab\u2019s militia had killed six members of Hamas\u2019 \u201cArrow\u201d unit, which is responsible for targeting collaborators with Israel.<\/p>\n Israeli media also reported<\/a> that an Israeli drone strike targeted Hamas fighters while they were clashing with members of Abu Shabab\u2019s militia.<\/p>\n It is not immediately clear if the gang has other external backers.<\/p>\n Since May, the group has created social media accounts and posted professionally produced propaganda videos, which may have been made with outside help.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile direct evidence of regional sponsorship is lacking, there are suggestive indicators,\u201d said Krieg.<\/p>\n One of Abu Shabab\u2019s militiamen was recently pictured<\/a> driving a vehicle with an Emirati number plate, \u201can unusual and conspicuous detail in the context of besieged Gaza,\u201d according to Krieg.<\/p>\n \u201cThis, combined with his group\u2019s anti-Hamas posture, has fuelled speculation that actors aligned with the UAE<\/a>, which has a well-documented history of supporting anti-Islamist surrogates in Libya<\/a>, Yemen<\/a> and Sudan<\/a>, may be involved indirectly,\u201d he said.\u00a0There is no direct evidence of UAE backing.<\/p>\nWho is Yasser Abu Shabab?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What have his gang been doing during the war?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How are the gang linked to Islamic State?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why is Israel arming these gangsters?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What has been the impact on Hamas?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do the Popular Forces have support beyond Israel?<\/strong><\/h2>\n