AMMAN, Jordan — When Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire earlier this year, it called into question the fate of the militias Israel cultivated during the devastating two-year war as an alternative force to power in Gaza. Many expected Hamas – which remains the dominant force in the Gaza Strip – to hunt them down.
Instead, Israel has moved its militias to the half of Gaza from which it has yet to withdraw, east of the so-called Yellow Line, the military border that divides Gaza in two. In the Israeli-controlled half, five factions, still supported by Israel with weapons and aid, have established what are essentially tiny fiefdoms, although they continue to wage a campaign of harassment across the Yellow Line to prevent Hamas from reasserting its power.
For its part, Israel wants to use the factions as local proxies to secure parts of the enclave under its control, ensure they are free of any hostile groups, and then set up humanitarian distribution points to keep residents there.
“The goal,” according to a June report from the Tel Aviv Institute for National Security Studies on Israeli-backed militias in Gaza, “is to cut off Hamas’ access to both the local population and incoming humanitarian aid.”
But the militias, which originally emerged as criminal gangs exploiting the security vacuum during the war and which include members with questionable ties 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 core of a new Gaza, one that will provide a dignified life for the citizens of Gaza,” said Hussam Al-Astal, leader of a faction called Strike Force Against Terror which controls a largely depopulated village southwest of the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis. He said Israel was working with five different factions operating in Israeli-controlled parts of the enclave.
He added that he had hundreds of militiamen under his command, contradicting observers who estimate the total number of fighters from the five groups at around 200.
“Israel is now looking for a peace partner in Gaza,” Al-Astal said. “This is what we will be.”
The largest of the factions working with Israel is the so-called Popular Forces, led until recently by Yasser Abu Shabab, a 32-year-old clansman who was twice imprisoned by Hamas before the war on drug trafficking charges; and known to have ties to the Islamic State in neighboring Sinai. He escaped from a Hamas prison during the war.
Abu Shabab, regularly accused by humanitarian groups of looting aid trucks, was assassinated earlier this month by disgruntled members of his militia, according to a statement from Abu Shabab’s clan.
He was quickly replaced by his deputy, Ghassan Al-Duhini, 39, an equally controversial figure who once served as a security officer with the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and then left to join Jaysh al-Islam, a Gaza-based armed faction that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015.
Al-Duhini allegedly coordinated smuggling with militant groups in Sinai. He too was arrested twice by Hamas before the war and fled at the start of the war.
Since the ceasefire, Israel has worked through the Popular Forces as a proxy in Rafah, the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip, which was virtually destroyed during the war and razed to the ground by Israeli forces.
The city is now practically empty. But the U.S.-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (the body meant to monitor the ceasefire, coordinate aid deliveries and start reconstruction in the enclave) views Rafah as a pilot project for a so-called “alternative and safe community, free of Hamas, of some 10,000 to 15,000 people,” according to a U.N. official and aid worker who declined to be named so he could speak freely.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Mar-a-Lago on Monday, where he met with President Trump and a number of U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with whom Netanyahu said on X he had “a great meeting.”
Netanyahu was expected to discuss the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for an interim authority to govern the Gaza Strip, as well as an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to deploy in place of Israel. These two points pose a problem for Israel, which is hesitant to move on to the second phase without seeing Hamas disarm.
Plans call for Gaza to be governed by a Trump-led Peace Council, which would also oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip for its 2.1 million residents. But Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and one of the instigators of the October ceasefire deal, said some reconstruction could begin in Rafah.
If that happens, the aid worker said, it would mean “the United States will cooperate with an ISIS-aligned security force.”
About Al-Duhini, the aid worker said: “There are so many other, better partners in Gaza than this guy. »
In a recent propaganda video released by the group, Al-Duhini addresses a group of armed men, telling them they work within the Trump-led Peace Council and the International Stabilization Force, meant to monitor the ceasefire.
“We will sweep away Rafah one grain of sand at a time,” he said, to eliminate “terrorism” and allow civilians to return to the region. “We want to establish a safe community.”
What this means in practice, according to analysts and people living in areas under Popular Forces control, is a strong hand of security, with militiamen regularly confiscating and inspecting people’s phones, preventing them from communicating with anyone in Hamas-controlled areas and searching homes.
“They treat them like prisoners,” said Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He added that Israel had given the factions capture or kill lists for various Hamas members in Gaza and was overseeing the interrogations.
At the same time, militias also carried out hit-and-run operations against Hamas members, killing a number of them when the opportunity arose; Popular Forces said in June it had killed 50 Hamas members.
On Monday, Hamas confirmed the deaths of a number of its senior commanders in Israeli strikes over the past year.
Among the leaders killed were Muhammad Sinwar, head of its military wing, the Qassam Brigade, head of manufacturing and chief of staff. Abu Ubaida, the masked spokesman last seen giving a speech in September, was also killed; the group identified him as Huthaifa Al-Kahlout. Israel had already revealed its identity in 2023.
The groups have also acted on Israel’s behalf: Last week, a faction called the People’s Defense Army, based near Gaza City, fired on homes in a neighborhood east of the city, forcing residents to leave. Observers said this was aimed at allowing Israel to move the Yellow Line westward. (The location of the Yellow Line was clarified during the ceasefire, but Israel continued to move it westward.)
According to Al-Astal, the five militias plan to soon join forces with the creation of a military council, which he said could serve as a transitional government when Hamas falls. He said international recognition would help.
There are indications of support beyond Israel. Popular Forces fighters have appeared with vehicles bearing markings from the United Arab Emirates, and some factions claim to be peripherally affiliated with 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 once that happens, he expects residents of Hamas-controlled areas to move east under the control of the militias.
“I tell you, if the way were open, there would not be a single person left in these parts of Gaza under Hamas, except for a few Hamas fighters,” he said.
