Israel and the Militias in Gaza

Gaza’s alternative to rule by Hamas are the large families — the clans — those traditional sources of authority and power, that have re-emerged as Hamas has been battered by the IDF. The clans are organic to Gaza, unlike Arabs from outside who would not be familiar with the tribal structures that predominate in the Strip. The traditional clan structures are deeply rooted in Gazan society. The militias in Gaza are based on family and tribal loyalties; some of the largest of them, such as the militia of the Doghmush clan in Gaza City, command close to two thousand gunmen. These militias guard their turf aggressively, holding off Hamas attacks that are launched by the terror group in order to bring all other armed groups in Gaza under their control. The clans are by no means secular or pro-Western, but their hatred of Hamas can be useful. In the past, the IDF has helped these militias by providing both weapons and money to pay their men, as well as providing aerial support with drone attacks on Hamas to keep it from defeating the militias. The IDF has recently doing it again, supporting both old and new militias that have been formed in that part of Gaza that extends from the Mediterranean sea to the Yellow Line. More on the IDF support for the militias in Gaza can be found here.

Israel is quietly supporting new Palestinian militias in Gaza that are fighting against Hamas in order to harm the terrorist organization, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday.

Both the militias in Gaza receiving the Israeli support, and the Israelis giving it, are bound by a shared hatred of Hamas. For Israel, Hamas is a gang of terrorist murderers; for the Gazan militias, Hamas is a power-hungry group determined to suppress all of the other armed groups in the Strip, those based on the large families and the clans that vie with Hamas for control of their neighborhood fiefdoms.

While Israel has pulled its forces back to the Yellow Line, and is committed to observing a ceasefire, the militias — family and clan-based — have made no such promise, and they continue the fight against Hamas with weapons, money, and other aid provided by Israel.

According to the report, Israel’s reliance on the armed groups in Gaza was evident earlier this month, when Hussam al-Astal, the leader of one of the groups, boasted about killing a policeman in Hamas-controlled territory and said that more such attacks were planned.

Al-Astal said in a video statement, “We say to Hamas and to anyone affiliated with Hamas – just as we reached him, we will come to you as well.” Al-Astal made the remarks in the video while brandishing an assault rifle.

According to the report, Israel is providing the armed militias in Gaza with aerial support from drones and is sharing intelligence, weapons, cigarettes, and food, Israeli officials and military reservists have said….

Having agreed as part of the ceasefire deal to pull back their forces in Gaza to behind the Yellow Line, the Israelis needed to find a way to keep up the armed pressure on Hamas. The families and clans that have formed militias, and are sworn enemies of Hamas, fit the bill. And with their Israel-supplied weapons and intermittent drone attacks, they continue to pick off Hamas fighters.

The head of one of the major clans, Yasser Abu Shebaab, has recently been killed by Hamas, but his family-based militia, with 2,000 men under arms, has vowed to keep fighting. There are about eight militias in Gaza now actively fighting Hamas; their numbers range from 400 to 2,00 men under arms; they fight only in the neighborhoods where they have networks of sympathizers, members of the same families and clans. If Hamas is now down to 25,000 fighters, and the militias in toto have 6,000-7,000 men, well-armed with Israeli weapons, and able to call on the IDF to launch drone strikes on Hamas combatants they are fighting, those militias can be much more than a nuisance; they can help keep Hamas forces busy protecting themselves in the territory between the Mediterranean and the Yellow Line. This help to the militias is a worthwhile investment by the IDF, and proof, yet again, that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”