Arab Clan Leader in Gaza Declares Open War on Hamas He’s blaming Hamas, not Israel, for the Gaza War – and the misery it has brought. by Hugh Fitzgerald

https://www.frontpagemag.com/arab-clan-leader-in-gaza-declares-open-war-on-hamas/

Yasser Abu Shabab is the leader of one of the largest clans in Gaza, and is fighting against Hamas. More on him can be found here: “‘No stopping a civil war against Hamas,’ Gaza militia chief Abu Shabab tells KAN,” Jerusalem Post, July 7, 2025:

Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of the allegedly Israel-backed, anti-Hamas Popular Forces group, revealed to Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Sunday that his militia is actively working against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, particularly operating in the Rafah area.

“There is no stopping a civil war against Hamas,” Abu Shabab said in the interview.

He told KAN that those who comprise his militia do not belong to any political or organizational ideology. However, Abu Shabab told Army Radio in an interview last month that he denied working with Israel and confirmed his group’s relationship with the Palestinian Authority. In that interview, he said that he wouldn’t rule out cooperating with the IDF on issues such as humanitarian aid distribution in the future….

Abu Shabab may deny working with Israel, but he is believed to have accepted weapons from the IDF; for obvious reasons, he keeps quiet about that. And he knows that his forces, and the IDF, share a common goal: to fight against and destroy Hamas. He has also said that he could see his group cooperating with the IDF on the distribution of humanitarian aid and similar issues, no doubt including the rebuilding of hospitals and schools. He claims to be open to people of all ideologies — except for Hamas, which is the Gazan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He also said that he has a relationship to the Palestinian Authority, which is Hamas’ bitter enemy, but offered no details.

He’s blaming Hamas, not Israel, for the Gaza War, and the misery that the war that Hamas started on October 7, 2023 has brought to so many people in Gaza. The “aggression” he deplores is that of Hamas, not the IDF. It’s a remarkable statement from a Palestinian leader in Gaza.

Abu Shabab is known to be receiving military assistance from Israel. Financial assistance — to pay his men — may come from the Arab enemies of Hamas, including the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, whose leaders would not want a Gazan enclave ruled by an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that is a direct threat to the Arab monarchies of the Gulf. Logistical support, however, could only come from the IDF, that has mapped out every part of Gaza and knows the positions, the weapons, the command-and-control centers, of all the forces belonging to Hamas.

Abu Shabab claimed that after Hamas leaves power, the Popular Forces will rule the enclave afterwards. “Hamas knows and understands this; the Popular Forces will be the heirs in Gaza after they are crushed and defeated,” KAN quoted him….

The Popular Forces is the name being given to the collective of local clans opposed to Hamas, of which the Abu Shabab’s clan is one part, albeit one of the most powerful.

Keenly aware of Hamas’ weakness, and of his own clan’s power — it has many hundreds of fighters, with more recruits, including non-family members, streaming in to join the group in its war with Hamas, and has been well provided with arms by the IDF — Abu Shabab is simply going to let the ultimatum pass. He knows Hamas is no longer capable of imposing its will on the powerful families like his own.

Hamas won’t dare to attack him when the ten-day ultimatum ends. It knows that if it is bloodied by Abu Shabab and his men, the humiliation will be so great as to efface completely whatever little authority it had left. Hamas doesn’t want to risk it. But in failing to enforce its own ultimatum, it will also be humiliated. In Gaza, what’s to come is still unsure, but one thing is certain: Hamas will be out of the picture, militarily and politically, and very likely, physically as well.

Comments are closed.