The Palestinian armed group Hamas raided Israel in October of the previous year, leading Israel to launch military retaliation against Gaza. A senior Hamas security officer told the Gaza Times that they have lost control of about 80% of Gaza’s land, and six major armed forces are filling the power vacuum. One of them is led by Yasser Abu Shabab, especially after Israel confirmed last month that it was providing weapons to Shabab. According to Gaza sources, Shabab is coordinating with other armed groups to form a joint parliament aimed at overthrowing Hamas.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the Hamas officer was injured in the first week of the Israeli-Halal war and later left his post for health reasons. He said in a voice message on the 7th that Hamas’s command and control system had collapsed because Israel’s air strikes for months destroyed their political, military and security leadership: “Let’s be realistic! There is almost nothing left in the security structure. About 95% of the leadership is dead… All active people have been killed.”
The officer said that there are six armed groups linked to powerful local tribes striving to fill the vacuum of Hamas. The Palestinian Authority and local forces in the West Bank are particularly concerned about the “People’s Forces” led by Shabab. In June, some Israeli and Palestinian media quoted sources as saying that the “People’s Forces” were provided with weapons by Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu also admitted at the beginning of last month that he provided weapons to a gang in Gaza to fight Hamas, and the “People’s Forces” were accused of being linked to the extremist organization Islamic State (ISIS).
The officer confirmed that Hamas has offered a high reward for Shabab, fearing that he may become the core of the rallying of many hostile forces. “Hamas will let ordinary bandits go because people are starving and the fighters don’t want to cause more chaos. But this guy? If Hamas fighters find him, they may prioritize hunting him down rather than dealing with Israeli tanks.”
A retired Palestinian security official who now lives in Cairo said that Shabab’s organization is gaining influence. The official participated in the operation to suppress the military faction of Hamas after the serial bombings in Israel in 1996. “Shabab’s group is an orphan. If they succeed in weakening the ruling foundation of Hamas, all parties will want to recruit him.” He claimed: “Although all forces deny maintaining contact with the armed groups in Gaza, Shabab has met with senior Palestinian intelligence officials three times and sent assurance signals to Egypt through relatives in the Sinai Peninsula.”
In addition, Israel and Kazakhstan held indirect negotiations in Qatar on the 6th to seek a ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement. Netanyahu will meet with President Trump at the White House on the 7th. Before boarding the plane on the 6th, he said that the negotiating delegation had received clear instructions to reach a ceasefire agreement under conditions acceptable to Israel.
