A prominent Gaza militia leader on Sunday refuted reports that Israel is supplying his group with weapons and that he has ties to Islamic State.
In an interview with Army Radio military correspondent Doron Kadosh, Yasser Abu Shabab, 32, a member of the Tarabin Bedouin tribe who heads the “Popular Forces” militia in the eastern Rafah area, also claimed that many Palestinians are seeking refuge with the militia and that the group maintains relations with the Palestinian Authority.
The militia also issued a statement on Friday denying Israeli media reports that it had received arms from Israel.
Yisrael Beiteinu Party head Avigdor Liberman claimed on Thursday that Jerusalem was supplying weapons to ISIS-affiliated clans in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking on Kan Reshet Bet radio, Liberman said that Israel, secretly and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval, has transferred assault rifles and small arms to crime families in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office did not directly deny the charge, saying only that “Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment.”
In the written exchange with Kadosh—which also involved Abu Shabab’s communications director—the militia leader said: “We do not work with Israel. Our goal is to protect Palestinians from Hamas terror. Our weapons are not from Israel—they are simple arms we collected from the local population.”
In a separate message from Abu Shabab published on Sunday morning by the Center for Peace Communications, he said that the militia’s weapons were “inherited from the Tarabin tribe,” and are funded “through individual efforts and donations.”
While he was open to future coordination with Israeli forces, he said the focus of any such coordination would be humanitarian. His militia already operates in an area of the Strip captured, cleared and controlled by the Israeli Defense Forces. “If any coordination occurs, it will be humanitarian, for the benefit of our people in eastern Rafah, and will be conducted through mediation channels,” he said.
Abu Shabab also denied any connection to the Islamic State. “We have no ties to any country or organization. These rumors are meant to harm our reputation and create hostility between us, Israel and Arab states,” he told Army Radio.
The militia was absorbing “dozens” of Gaza families a day, said Abu Shabab.
“Hundreds of families are seeking refuge with us, and we are absorbing dozens of them every day. Our presence here is essential to protect families in areas supervised by the army. They arrive via a humanitarian corridor. We demand safe passage for tens of thousands of people, and the humanitarian corridor must be under international supervision,” he said.
Asked if he was interested in establishing an alternative to Hamas governance, he said that the priority at the moment was protecting Gazans.
“Currently, we can only focus on our goal, which is to protect our people from Hamas terror and its unacceptable rule over the people and government—especially after hundreds of demonstrations demanded its departure,” he said.
He claimed to have secured aid from international organizations “due to the growing number of families coming to our area, fleeing war and hunger,” but added: “We demand additional support for our humanitarian project to save our people from hunger, destruction and Hamas’s obstinacy.”
The militia seeks to expand to areas of Gaza currently controlled by Hamas, he said, adding that Hamas had attacked its positions several times, killing around 25 people, including women and children, “because we stopped theft carried out by Hamas members under a humanitarian guise.”
He called for “relevant authorities” to investigate the incident, which he called a “massacre.”
With regard to the Palestinian Authority, he said the militia’s relation’s with Ramallah were “within the supreme national interest of the Palestinian people and within its legal legitimacy.”
The militia coordinated its security checks with P.A. intelligence, “Which cooperates with us on this issue to ensure that terrorist elements do not enter and sabotage the project to liberate from Hamas,” he said.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 News on Sunday, Abu Shabab’s men wear uniforms bearing insignia with the inscription “Counter-Terrorism Mechanism,” and escort aid convoys while wearing red vests.
According to Channel 12 reporter Amit Segal, despite his denials, Abu Shabab “is working with Israel and the GHF to distribute aid in the southern strip—and is being armed by Israel.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is the U.S.-backed organization designed to bypass Hamas by distributing aid directly to Palestinian families. Operations at aid distribution centers resumed on Sunday after being briefly halted on Saturday due to threats from Hamas.
Saturday’s closure followed the organization’s announcement that nearly nine million meals had been delivered since operations began on May 26.
Abu Shabab reportedly fled from a Hamas prison during Israeli airstrikes after the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack, having been imprisoned for years on criminal charges, including smuggling, theft and drug trafficking. He claims that Hamas killed his brother in November 2024 in a raid that left over 20 dead.
Hamas views Abu Shabab and his militia as a real threat, and have initiated a massive campaign against him, according to Channel 12.
During his interview with Army Radio, Abu Shabab called for the international media to stop spreading Hamas propaganda. He singled out major Arab channels, which he said were “promoting Hamas’s agenda and lacked any integrity or professionalism.”