Hamas gives opposition militia leader 10 days to surrender

The Hamas-run Ministry of the Interior published a statement on July 2 ordering the Popular Forces militia leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, to turn himself in and face trial on several charges. The order warned that if Shabab did not surrender within 10 days, he would be considered a fugitive and tried in absentia.

The Revolutionary Court of the Military Judiciary Authority—a judicial body that operates under the Ministry of Interior in Gaza—said that it had charged Yasser Abu Shabab with treason, collaborating with hostile entities, forming an armed gang, and an armed rebellion, Al Jazeera reported. 

In response to the order, a Facebook page operated by the Popular Forces derided the charges and questioned the legitimacy of Hamas’s judicial authority.

“The so-called revolutionary Hamas court, which issues its orders from its hideouts between hospitals and schools, is a sitcom that doesn’t frighten us, nor does it frighten any free man who loves his homeland and its dignity,” the group posted.

Led by Bedouin tribesman Yasser Abu Shabab, the Popular Forces emerged earlier this year as an anti-Hamas militia. The group said it was formed to protect Palestinians, secure aid, and defend the rights of the people.  

The Popular Forces has also carried out at least one offensive against Hamas. On June 29, it stated that it moved against a Hamas position at the Khan Younis University College of Applied Sciences in the southern Gaza Strip. The site the group targeted allegedly belonged to Hamas’s Arrow Unit and contained aid confiscated from civilians, merchants, and other sources. The Popular Forces did not provide evidence to assert its claim.

For its part, Hamas’s apparent actions against the Popular Forces suggest that the group has become a problem for the Islamist organization.

On May 30, Hamas released a propaganda video alleging it had ambushed an undercover Israel Defense Forces unit operating in the southern Gaza Strip. However, the footage shows the purported Israeli operatives openly carrying weapons, which is atypical for a covert unit. Analysts have suggested that the individuals targeted were more likely members of Yasser Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces, not Israeli personnel.

Lending support to Hamas’s claim that the Popular Forces is affiliated with Israel, a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 5 acknowledged that the Jewish state has sent arms to clans who oppose Hamas.

On July 1, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel had agreed to “the necessary conditions to finalize the sixty-day ceasefire” with Hamas. If a potential ceasefire with the group and an end to the war are near, the fate of Yasser Abu Shabab and the Popular Forces is unclear.

Joe Truzman is an editor and senior research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian armed groups and non-state actors in the Middle East.