TEHRAN – The Zionist regime’s secret plan in Gaza is to arm local militias in order to weaken Hamas and reestablish control from within.
Reports have been circulating for months that the Israeli occupation regime is secretly collaborating with armed militias in the Gaza Strip to weaken Hamas.
Investigations, including a recent one by Sky News, have documented how occupation forces have provided arms, money, fuel, food and intelligence support to these militias.
The goal is to create a rival force capable of defeating Hamas militarily.
Sky News revealed four militia members working with Israeli occupation forces, some of them in vehicles with Hebrew writing. A member of one of the groups told the news outlet that coordination is being done through an organization called the Regional Coordination Bureau, which includes members of the regime government and the Palestinian Authority.
“The ammunition and vehicles will be delivered through the Karem Abu Salem intersection in coordination with the Israeli (regime) military,” the official said.
The best known of these groups is that led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a figure with ties to drug smuggling operations and the Daesh terrorist organization. Several reports indicate how Israeli occupation force aircraft protected terrorist operatives during the fight against Hamas.
On October 3, clashes broke out between Hamas resistance groups and militias backed by the Israeli regime. During the fighting, Israeli warplanes intervened and killed several Hamas members, clear evidence of direct cooperation with the militia.
Can the militia succeed?
After two years of genocidal war, Israeli occupation forces, with support from the United States and other NATO allies, unsuccessfully tried to destroy Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.
Al-Qassam has survived through its indomitable spirit and strong alliances with other resistance groups such as the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Daily operations involved complex ambush attacks on occupation regime forces and military vehicles.
If some of the world’s most advanced militaries have failed to eliminate Hamas, it is hard to believe that a few small militias will succeed, even with direct military and intelligence support from the Zionist regime.
“Yellow Line”
Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has outlined the new US-Israeli administration’s plan to split Gaza into two along the so-called “Yellow Line.”
One side is under the control of Israeli occupation forces and will receive aid, machinery and funds for reconstruction. Militia groups are based in areas close to occupation force headquarters along this line.
The other side, still under Hamas rule, will be divided, in ruins, and depleted of resources.
The message the Zionist regime wants to send is simple. Gaza can thrive without Hamas. But for Palestinians, this is not reconstruction. Using militias in conjunction with an occupying regime is intimidation.
Hamas expressed support for an independent Gaza transitional authority made up of Palestinian engineers and called for early elections.
echoes of lebanon
Lebanon presents a classic example from the past. In the 1980s and 1990s, Israeli occupation forces relied on local militias to reach the presidential palace in Beirut.
By the time the occupation forces were forcibly removed by Hezbollah in 2000, those collaborators were hated and pursued. Their cooperation brought shame. It brought neither peace nor prosperity. A similar scenario is currently unfolding in Gaza.
The Zionist regime and some Western media accused Hamas of stealing aid during the genocide, but subsequent investigations revealed that it was actually Israeli-backed militias that were looting the aid in direct collaboration with the invading regime.
fragile ceasefire
The second phase of President Trump’s ceasefire agreement calls for Israeli occupation forces to withdraw from the Yellow Line. Otherwise, the ceasefire agreement could collapse.
The Palestinian resistance movement is currently tracking down militias and people who collaborated with the occupation forces during the genocidal war.
In Gaza, where some 2.4 million people have seen their families massacred by Israel, collaborators will find few places to hide. If they are able to escape Hamas and other resistance groups, more than 2 million Palestinians will demand accountability for the blood of their loved ones.
In this decades-long conflict, one truth remains: there is no middle ground. Palestinians see their struggle as a fight for survival. If there is any political party that is more despised than the Zionist regime, it is the party that collaborates with the Zionist regime.
As the occupation regime once again attempts to rebuild the Gaza Strip through force and manipulation, it may find, as in Lebanon, that no amount of weapons, airstrikes or proxy militias can win over the people it seeks to control.