Gaza gang challenging Hamas denies being armed by Israel

In his first interview with Israeli media, Yasser Abu Shabab said his group is protecting civilians in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Contrary to claims by opponents of the Israeli government, the anti-Hamas Popular Forces militia in Gaza is not being armed by Israel, its leader claimed in his first interview with an Israeli media outlet on Sunday.

In a written question-and-answer session with Doron Kadosh of Israel Army Radio, Yasser Abu Shabab said his Popular Forces militia is armed with weapons they collected “from the local population.”

Hebrew-language media reported last week that the militia was being supplied from the huge numbers of weapons confiscated by the IDF from Hamas armories over the last 20 months of warfare in Gaza.

According to Israel Beiteinu party head Avigdor Liberman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approved the weapons transfer on his own authority.

“The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State (IS), at the direction of the prime minister,” Liberman told Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet radio on Thursday.

“I don’t believe this received cabinet approval,” he added. “The head of Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] was likely informed, but I don’t know how much the chief of staff was privy to the matter.”

He did not specify how he knew that the gang had ties to the extreme Islamist terror group.

For his part, Abu Shaban rejected the claim, with members of his widespread clan, known for smuggling of drugs and other goods, having reportedly fought IS in Sinai alongside the Egyptian army.

“We have no connection to any country or organization,” he said. “These rumors are intended to damage our reputation and create a climate of hostility between us and Israel and the Arab countries.”

The Popular Forces operate in eastern Rafah, which has been cleared of Hamas terrorists and is under the total control of the IDF.

Abu Shabab flatly denied that he was an Israeli puppet.

“We do not work with Israel,” he said. “Our goal is to protect the Palestinians from the terror of Hamas.”

They cooperate, he said, with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is a deadly foe of Hamas, as the Islamist group gets closer and closer to ousting it from power in PA territory in Judea and Samaria.

The militia warlordd maintained that the PA does not fund his group, saying they just work together “within the framework of the supreme national interest of the Palestinian people, and within the framework of its legal legitimacy.”

“We carry out security checks through the Muhbarat (Palestinian intelligence) mechanism, which cooperates with us on this issue to ensure that terrorist elements do not enter and sabotage the liberation project from Hamas,” he explained.

On the other hand, Abu Shabab said they could cooperate with the IDF in the future, but only in the humanitarian sphere, “for the good of our people in eastern Rafah, and it would take place through mediating channels.”

Abu Shabab claimed that “hundreds of families are seeking asylum with us” and that the group’s “presence here is necessary to protect the families in areas controlled by the military.”

While they are coming via an already-existing humanitarian corridor, he demanded that it be expanded and that the “safe transfer of tens of thousands of people be allowed,” with the humanitarian corridor being “under international supervision.”