CrossFireArabia
By Ali Saadeh
The structure of the Hebrew state is based on mercenaries, collaborators, and agents. As revealed in Gaza, Israel is no more than a gang of murderers and a terrorist organization in the guise of a “state.”
Therefore, it is of no surprise it currently sponsors gangs of drug dealers, murderers, and thugs, and has created mercenary groups and armed Palestinian militias to operate in parallel with the Israeli military forces and under the supervision of the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet).
The Israeli government is today arming Palestinian militias in Gaza, under the direct direction and orders of Benjamin Netanyahu to confront Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups.
Tel Aviv acknowledges the existence of at least three groups it is supplying with weapons and are funding them in Gaza and pursue Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters without revealing direct Israeli military involvement.
These militias do not receive regular Israeli weapons but supplied with weapons confiscated by the army from the resistance factions in Gaza and weapons seized from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. This makes their combat gear appear more like “spoils of war” than Israeli military equipment.
In addition, their members receive monthly salaries and permits to carry weapons from the Israeli army, making them more like local mercenaries serving the occupation’s goals under Palestinian cover.
One of these militias, led by Yasser Abu Shabab and stationed in the eastern areas of Rafah, is the most prominent example of this formation and enjoys direct protection from the Israeli army. Other formations include young men from the clans and activists opposed to Hamas, many of whom belong to the Fatah movement.
According to Israeli sources, the tasks of these groups include gathering intelligence, monitoring areas emptied of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, and participating in maintaining security in areas crowded with displaced civilians in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Haaretz.
While the Israeli army and the Shin Bet promote the idea that these militias would constitute a “local alternative” to Hamas in the medium term, indicators on the ground show otherwise. Hamas and the resistance factions continue to dominate the scene throughout the Gaza Strip.
These groups train openly under the noses of Israeli forces inside the Strip and move freely near invading units, in small formations of between five and 10 armed men.
To avoid confusion, the Israeli army began in recent weeks to code the locations of these militia members in its command and control system, just as it designates the locations of its own forces, and making them part of its field military plan.
According to army commanders, these militias are participating in “large-scale and important operations within sensitive areas.” However, they also warn of the risk of losing control over them, with some saying: “Tomorrow they might commit a massacre. Who will bear the responsibility then?”
Haaretz military correspondent Yaniv Kubitsch pointed out that arming mercenary militias to carry out dirty operations or massacres is not new, recalling what happened in Lebanon during the 1980s, when pro-occupation militias committed the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982 after the Israeli army besieged the camp.
According to Kubitsch, the army and the Shin Bet direct these militias to carry out missions, often in densely-populated areas in the southern Gaza Strip, where residents displaced from northern and central Gaza are concentrated.
Israeli media cites lessons from previous experiences in the region, from the South Lebanon Army to attempts to establish local entities in the West Bank, the experiences of the Sahwa (awakening) in Iraq, and the role of militias in Afghanistan and Syria.
He says,: “All of these are examples that demonstrate that local militias can turn against their back or spawn conflicting forces that weaken the state’s authority.”
Recently, Hussam al-Astal, former member of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, emerged and announced the formation of such an armed group in the Qizan al-Najjar area, southeast of Khan Yunis, which has been completely evacuated.
Astal called on residents to move to areas under his control and provide them with food, water, and shelter. He told The Times of Israel that his group would welcome anyone hostile to Hamas and that he had enough food, water, and shelter for everyone.
He noted that in the coming days, he would work to welcome about 400 Palestinians after verifying their security IDs. He said he was responsible for the area, as was Yasser Abu Shabab, who was responsible for areas east of Rafah and parts of eastern Khan Yunis. He confirmed he was in contact with Abu Shabab but was operating independently.
Astal is no stranger to collaborating; he worked for several years in Israel and later with the Palestinian Authority’s security forces when they still controlled Gaza.
He spoke of coordination between his group and the occupation, noting he received support from several sources, including the United States, Europe, and unspecified Arab countries.
Al-Astal was detained by the Hamas government’s security services after they succeeded in luring him from outside the Gaza Strip to the territory, indirectly through one of his brothers, an officer in the Hamas government’s internal security service. He was investigated on charges of collaborating with the occupation at the time, regarding his involvement in the assassination of engineer Fadi al-Batsh in Malaysia in 2018.
In 2022, the Permanent Military Court in Gaza issued a death sentence against al-Astal after convicting him of killing al-Batsh.
After the outbreak of the war, al-Astal managed to escape from prison and attempted to flee towards Israel. However, after the emergence of Yasser Abu Shabab’s group in Rafah, he joined it and fought with it, before establishing his new group alongside other militants, most of whom were accused of collaborating with Israel and thus held in Gaza prisons.
However, the collaborator remains, in the eyes of his employer, a mere dirty tool he manipulates according to his own interests. When his usefulness expires, the enemy throws him in the trash can and leaves him to his inevitable fate, which is being recorded on the streets by the Palestinian people. This punishment has become imminent after the recent scenes of the resistance executing a group of collaborators.
This feature was written recently by Ali Saadeh in Arabic and published in Assabeel.
