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A member of one of those groups, Yasser Abu Shabab, a resident of Rafah from a Bedouin family known in the local community for crime, now leads his own group. The Abu Shabab group, which has renamed itself the “Anti-Terror Service,” received the Kalashnikov rifles – some of which it claimed to have confiscated from Hamas – according to the Israeli press. Footage circulated on social media in recent days of Abu Shabab working with Israeli troops in areas under IDF control.
“We activated in Gaza the deterrent, which, with a heavy heart, the army and the security forces are forced to use,” Netanyahu said in a video posted online, adding: “Our mission is moralfolk the opposite of Hamas. It saves lives of innocent Palestinians.
It saves lives of innocent Israelis. It saves lives of the Israeli soldiers.” His office later clarified that Israel is employing “different measures” to combat Hamas, in accordance with the joint recommendations of the country’s security echelon.
Internal Blowback and Suspected Ties to Extremists
There has been criticism of this decision, including from Avigdor Lieberman, a former defense minister who now leads the opposition party Yisrael Beiteinu, who said Abu Shabab’s group is affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) jihadist movement. While the group has not claimed credit in the past, the source of this assertion is uncertain, the group has been accused in the past of smuggling activities for jihadist networks in Egypt.
There was no immediate public comment from the Israel Defense Forces on the reports. In the meantime, Abu Shabab’s own family issued a stern public condemnation, disowning him and describing his act as treachery. “We will not agree to the return of Yasser… his blood is on his head,” the said they continued adding that his people should rebuke him.
“The real theft of aid since the war began has been done by criminal gangs,’’ Jonathan Whittall of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, naming groups including Abu Shabab. In a series of Facebook posts, Abu Shabab said he was not stealing the aid but rather that he took the goods only to feed his family.
13Iran Coalition Strains, Protests and a Worsening Humanitarian Crisis
At home, the blowback even reached political leaders, including Yair Golan, head of the Democrats in the Knesset, who described Netanyahu as “a threat to the national security of Israel,” saying the prime minister endangered the country rather than sealing a deal to bring the hostages back.
While protests against a ceasefire were held worldwide and even the release of hostages from the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Netanyahu's coalition is as firm as ever and only due to the support of extreme right-wing parties. Friday’s news: Another indication of the domestic tension Netanyahu is facing came last night, when the ultra-Orthodox Shas party joined the call to dissolve the Knesset.
The gesture comes after a law meant to formally exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service has been stalled. Haredi have for years been excused en masse from military service to study in yeshiva under religious exemption but thousands of them are now feeling the squeeze as the IDF looks for 10,000 new soldiers in the combat duty plus another 3,000 in the field as fighting rages there against the Hamas.
Israeli airstrikes, meanwhile, continued on Thursday and Friday, and according to Gaza health officials the violence had led to at least 52 deaths among Palestinians. The humanitarian situation has “sharply deteriorated,” with more than 2,700 children now severely malnourished, the U.N. said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose operations are indirectly backed by the US, said that all of its aid distribution points would remain closed after Israeli soldiers shot and killed at least 27 Palestinians and wounded hundreds on Tuesday as they were queuing for food. This means residents have been warned not to go there for their safety.
