Israeli PM Netanyahu admits backing criminal group Abu Shabab:

Following a fresh round of military attacks on the Gaza Strip that claimed the lives of at least 52 Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted that the nation is deploying armed gangs in Gaza to aid in the fight against Hamas.

Hours after the former Defense Minister accused him of using the method, Netanyahu released a video message to X on Thursday, claiming that the government had “activated” powerful local clans in the enclave on the recommendation of “security officials.”

As starvation looms over the entire region as a result of a punitive Israeli blockade, the government’s statement was its first public admission that it had supported armed Palestinian groups centered around wealthy families who are accused by aid workers of committing crimes and stealing aid from trucks.

The so-called Popular Forces, headed by Yasser Abu Shabab, a local clan leader in Rafah, were one of the organizations Netanyahu was alluding to, according to an Israeli official quoted by news agency The Associated Press.

Abu Shabab Organization

The Israeli publication Haaretz covered the group’s operations last month, referring to it as the “Anti-Terror Service.” According to sources in Gaza, the squad was made up of about 100 armed men who operated with the tacit sanction of the Israeli military.

The Abu Shabab organization said on its website in recent weeks that its members were assisting in safeguarding food shipments to new distribution centers supported by Israel and the United States and operated by the clandestine Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

According to Hamdah Salhut of Al Jazeera, reporting from Amman, Jordan, “the Israeli opposition claims that there was no consultation within the Israeli government or the Israeli cabinet.”

“These armed gangs, according to Netanyahu, could basically aid the Israelis in defeating Hamas in Gaza.”

However, it isn’t popular in Israel, where some claim that these are armed criminal organizations operating in the Gaza Strip. know these are Israeli weapons that are being given to them and that they shouldn’t be armed,” she stated.

“Human slaughterhouse”

Netanyahu’s remarks came after the military struck targets all around the besieged coastal enclave of Gaza, where the severe embargo has driven the populace to the verge of mass hunger on yet another terrible day.

Israeli military have opened fire on Palestinians attempting to get help four times since last week, causing global outrage for the deadly episodes that have occurred at GHF-run relief distribution centers, killing over 100 people and injuring numerous others.

Chris Gunness, former spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told news that the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had turned Gaza into a “human slaughterhouse”.

He claimed that hundreds of citizens are murdered like livestock after being herded like animals into fenced-off enclosures.

GHF announced that it would reopen two assistance distribution centers in the southern Gaza region of Rafah the next day after suspending operations for the entire day on Wednesday in the face of mounting international censure.

When aid distribution would resume was not specified.

Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that at least 52 Palestinians were murdered on Thursday.

According to the sources, 21 dead were admitted to the al-Ahli Arab and al-Shifa hospitals in Gaza City, while 31 bodies had arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

In an attack on Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital, also called the Baptist Hospital, Israel murdered four journalists.

After running outside his tent to check on his children, Fadi al-Hindi, a resident of Gaza City, told news that he had witnessed scenes of death after one of the strikes on al-Nasser Street, close to the Al-Shifa Hospital.

“I found a man in parts when I got there; the lower half of his body was missing; he had been riding a bicycle. We began gathering the pieces of the wounded, as everyone in the street was hurt,” he recalled.

Additionally, a kid was injured near Bureij in central Gaza, and five people were killed in the vicinity of Khan Younis, four west of Beit Lahiya in the north, and one south of Gaza City, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Source: Al Jazeera and other media outlets