Gaza militia claims to have killed 2 members of Hamas

The Popular Forces said on January 6 that it killed two members of Hamas during an operation in the southern Gaza Strip. The killings underscore the continued presence and activity of the Popular Forces and other anti-Hamas militias in Gaza months after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect.

The Popular Forces, led by Hussam al Astal, said in a statement posted on Facebook that it conducted an operation in the Abu al Saber area of the Shaboura Camp (Rafah) following intelligence it had received from a confession of a Hamas-affiliated terrorist. The group said it killed two Hamas operatives who refused to give themselves up and arrested a third member who “turned himself in.”

Besides publishing a photograph of a Hamas member whom it said it had killed, the Popular Forces did not provide further details on the operation.

Despite Hamas’s attempts to dismantle the militias, the Popular Forces and their armed allies continued operating well after major combat operations by Israel subsided. Groups such as the Popular Army, led by former Palestinian Authority Major General Shawqi Abu Nassira, have shown sustained, albeit limited, activity against Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations.

On December 25, the Popular Army published footage showing the confession of a Palestinian it had captured. The individual said that Hamas had directed him to spy on the militia and kill Shawqi Abu Nassira.

Earlier, on December 10, the Popular Army published another confession of an alleged Hamas member who said he was dispatched by the Islamist group to locate the whereabouts of the militia’s leader.

While eliminating Hamas remains the primary objective of these groups, at least one has also sought backing from the United States. Hussam al Astal argued in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed that anti-Hamas militias should be consolidated into a single security force operating under the authority of Donald Trump’s proposed Gaza Board of Peace. Astal warned that in the absence of Hamas’s disarmament and the establishment of a “strong Gazan security force” to counter it, the Islamist group would seek to reassert control over the Strip.

Overall, the anti-Hamas militias have achieved some success in undermining Hamas, but recent developments underscore their fragility. Most notably, Yasser Abu Shabab, the former head of the Popular Forces, was killed in early December under contested circumstances. Israeli media reported that members of Shabab’s own militia killed him following internal disputes. His wife, however, claimed that he was killed while attempting to mediate a disagreement between members of the Abu Sunaymah clan. Following Shabab’s death, his deputy, Ghassan Duhaini, assumed leadership of the militia.

Hamas has, thus far, failed to dismantle the militias arrayed against it, in large part because they operate within Israeli-controlled zones of the Gaza Strip. That dynamic may change quickly. A full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip under a looming second phase of the ceasefire plan would allow Hamas to reenter these areas, placing the militias directly in its crosshairs.

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.