Israel pushing for Arab clans to rule Gaza City – report

Israel reportedly reached out to major Gaza clans with a plan to establish anti-Hamas enclaves within Gaza City.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli security officials have reached out to large clans in the Gaza Strip with a proposal to establish spheres of influence inside Gaza City aimed at weakening Hamas within the coastal enclave, a Saudi media outlet has reported.

According to security officials and sources within the Gaza Strip cited by the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has sought to form alliances with two clans inside Gaza City.

Under the plan floated by the Shin Bet, the two clans would receive aid from Israel, helping them to establish de facto control over enclaves within the city.

In exchange, the two clans would actively oppose Hamas, weakening the terror group’s already precarious position in northern Gaza, and give Israel indirect control over Gaza City. Under the proposed arrangement, the clans would also be required to provide intelligence information to Israel.

The plan is modeled on a similar arrangement already partially implemented in southern Gaza, where Israel has allied itself with the Abu Shabab militia — a criminal cartel linked with the Bedouin Tarabin tribe, which has established an Israeli-aligned sphere of influence in the Khan Yunis district.

The IDF reportedly controls roughly half of Gaza City after weeks of ground operations in Gaza’s capital.

More than three quarters of the population of Gaza City and its environs — some 780,000 people — have already evacuated, moving southwest toward safe zones established by the IDF.

Prior to the evacuation orders, close to one million people lived in northern Gaza, including the Gaza City and Northern Gaza governates.

However, most members of the Durmush and Bakr clans have remained in Gaza City.

According to the report, the Shin Bet has sought to ally with the two clans, a move that would leave Hamas’ already beleaguered forces in Gaza City even more isolated.

Thus far, though, both clans have turned down the Shin Bet offer, the report said.

A representative of the Bakr claim told Asharq Al-Awsat that his clan responded to the Shin Bet on Friday, rejecting the overture.

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