Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his administration is using armed Gaza gangs to fight Hamas.
Netanyahu said the government had “revitalized” powerful local clans in the enclave over advice from “security officials.” His video statement was posted to X on Thursday after former war minister Avigdor Lieberman accused him of deploying his tactics.
The statement marked the government’s first perception that aid workers supported armed Palestinian groups based on powerful families who were accused of stealing aid from trucks to commit criminal attacks and creeping up aid from the territory to punish Israel’s lockdown from starvation.
An Israeli official cited by the news agency said that one of the groups Netanyahu was referring to was a so-called popular unit led by Yasser Abu Shabaab, the local clan leader in Rafa.
Last month, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on the group’s activities, dubbed the report “anti-terrorist service,” but Gaza sources claimed it was made up of around 100 armed men who run with the implicit approval of Israeli military.
In recent weeks, the Abu Shabaab Group has announced online that fighter jets are helping to protect freight supplies to new US- and Israel-backed distribution centres run by the Shadhi Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“Israel opposition claims that there was no consultation with the Israeli government or the Israeli cabinet,” said Hamda Sarhu of Al Jazeera, who reports from Amman, the Jordanian capital. “Netanyahu says these armed gangs could inherently help the Israelis defeat Hamas in Gaza.”
“But it’s not going well within Israel. People say these are armed criminal enterprises in the Gaza Strip. They say they should not be armed and these are Israeli weapons that are available,” she said.
“Human Slaughterhouse”
Netanyahu issued a statement on another fatal day in Gaza. Gaza issued a statement to targets striking troops across the besieged coastal enclave.
The fatal incident that killed more than 100 people on a GHF-run aid distribution site since last week, and many more injured, sparked widespread criticism as Palestinians have been seeking assistance on four separate occasions since last week.
Chris Gunnes, a former spokesman for the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s operations have transformed Gaza into “abolishing humans.”
“Hundreds of civilians flock to fenced pens like animals, and in the process they’re being massacred like cows,” he said.
Amid growing international condemnation, the GHF said it would close a whole day on Wednesday and reopen two aid distribution centres in the Rafa area of southern Gaza the following day. He did not say when aid distribution would resume.
At least 52 Palestinians were killed on Thursday, according to a hospital source who spoke to Al Jazeera. Sources say 31 bodies have arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Eunice, while 21 have been admitted to Al-Ara Arab and Al-Sifa hospitals in Gaza City.
Israel killed four journalists in an attack on Al Ali Hospital itself, also known as the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City
Gaza city local Fadi al Hindi told Al Jazeera that he witnessed the death scene after seeing one of the strikes on Al Nassar Street near Al Sifa Hospital and ran outside his tent to check on his child.
“When I arrived, I looked at the man in pieces. He was on his bike and the lower half of his body was gone. Everyone on the street was injured and we began collecting pieces of the injured,” he said.
At least three Palestinians were reportedly killed on strike.
Palestinian News Agency WAFA also reported five deaths of a child injured in the area around Khan Yunis, west of Beit Rahiya in the north, one south of Gaza city, and near Breige in central Gaza.
Wafa also reported that Israeli forces fired fire on Palestinians trying to arrive at an aid centre near Wadi Gaza.
In the meantime, Hamas chief Khalil al-Heyya said in a registered speech that the group did not reject the proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Al Haiya added that Hamas is ready to engage in further consultations and communication with the mediator is ongoing. Israel destroyed the previous ceasefire in March to resume the war in Gaza.
(Source: Al Jazeera)