A Palestinian anti-Hamas militia leader has been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli army radio.
Yasser Abu Shabab, the Popular Forces commander, along with a large number of members from his group, and senior commander Ghassan al Duhine, reportedly fell into a well-planned ambush set by the resistance factions.
The Reuters news agency reported that Abu Shabab, the most prominent anti-Hamas clan leader in Gaza, had died of his wounds in a hospital in southern Israel. It did not say when he died.
Image:
Ghassan Al Duhine, left, was the deputy commander of the Popular Forces’ military wing. Pic: Facebook
Popular Forces, a former looting gang, hopes to wrest control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas – with Israel’s backing.
Sky News revealed that Abu Shabab’s militia was smuggling vehicles into Gaza with the help of the Israeli military and an Arab-Israeli car dealer.
Hamas has accused Abu Shabab of collaborating with Israel, which he denied.
Hassan Abu Shabab, a relative and childhood friend of the group’s leader, said in October that the recruitment of new militias had swelled its forces across Gaza to around 3,000.
The headquarters of the Popular Forces are located in a small neighbourhood.
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The base’s location is strategically important – it sits along the route by which aid trucks must travel when entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, a route that aid officials have named “Looters’ Alley”.
An internal UN report, dated November 2024, identified Yasser Abu Shabab and his gang as “the most influential stakeholders behind the systematic and massive looting of convoys”.
The UN document identified their primary source of income as smuggling cigarettes – one of the many goods which Israel has officially banned from entering Gaza. The price of individual cigarettes has at some points reached $20.
Image:
Yasser Abu Shabab (right), in a photo uploaded to his social media account. Pic: TikTok
Hassan Abu Shabab admitted that the group was involved in looting trucks and smuggling cigarettes, though he said they only ever targeted commercial trucks they believed to be supplying Hamas.
He said it eventually escalated, with Hamas’s men allegedly killing his cousins in a “massacre” that left 54 people dead.
Sky News could not independently verify his claim, but there were numerous reports of deadly clashes between Abu Shabab’s men and Hamas, which declared the Popular Forces leader a wanted man.
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