Armed gangs are vying to fill the vacuum left by Hamas in Israeli-occupied Gaza

Video shows Hamas armed men dragging seven men into a circle of people in Gaza City, forcing them to their knees and executing them. (From Social Media/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

When Sheikh Mohammed Abu Mustafa stepped out of his mosque in southern Gaza after leading afternoon prayers in early November, a gunman on a motorcycle pulled up and shot him dead.

It was a targeted assassination that an Islamist militant group said was carried out by local Israeli-backed militia.

A Hamas-linked group later claimed that the slain imam was a jihadist who had concealed Israeli hostages during the Gaza war, and accused the hitman of belonging to a new Israeli-supported militia led by Hussam Al-Astal – a former prisoner in Hamas-ruled Gaza who is now openly working to topple the militant group that has ruled the territory with an iron fist for nearly two decades.

In a phone interview with CNN, Al-Astal denied that his men assassinated Sheikh Abu Mustafa but said he welcomed the death of any Hamas member.

His obscure group, the self-styled Counter-Terrorism Strike Force, has taken control of a village in the Israeli-occupied part of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. From there, it carries out raids against Hamas while trying to grow its small domestic following.

As the dust begins to settle after the brutal two-year war, Gaza has been split in two. Hamas is reconsolidating its control in the western half of the enclave that Israel withdrew from, and remains the dominant force where the vast majority of Gaza’s population lives. East of the so-called yellow line – an Israeli military boundary– however, relatively few civilians remain. It is there, in the Israel-controlled territory, that small armed groups are trying to assert their dominance and carve out influence.

Under Israel’s close watch, at least five factions are now operating within the yellow line. What began as scattered, opportunistic gangs exploiting the chaos of the conflict has coalesced into a co-ordinated network of armed militias that are openly positioning themselves for a postwar role in Gaza should Hamas be removed from power.

“There is co-ordination between our groups. We have the same goals and the same ideology…We have the same aim,” Al Astal told CNN, referring to Hamas’ defeat.

Armed with light weapons, a few dozen fighters, and a handful of vehicles, the militias operate from separate bases across Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza. On social media, their leaders regularly post propaganda videos showing masked men in makeshift black uniforms, clutching rifles, awkwardly chanting in unison and vowing to “liberate” Gaza from Hamas.

Though small and lacking in skill and support to fully replace Hamas, these militias have already plunged Gaza into more instability. Using hit-and-run attacks, they have tried to challenge Hamas as it has consolidated power in areas no longer controlled by Israel since the ceasefire. The militias have waged an insurgency within an insurgency, targeting Hamas at a critical moment in the process of establishing governance in post-war Gaza.

Hamas has not sat idly by.

Concerned about its status in the enclave, Hamas is now on a mission to hunt them down, while ordinary Palestinians grow increasingly anxious that the war-torn enclave could slide toward open civil conflict. Reports of violence have been shared widely on social media, with one particularly gruesome video that was shared by Hamas-affiliated channels in October showing a group of masked fighters, some of whom are wearing green Hamas headbands, killing eight blindfolded people in a square in Gaza City.

Hamas affiliated groups said those executed were collaborating with Israel or were involved in security and criminal offences, but it did not provide any evidence.

Ambitions to govern

The most disruptive among the anti-Hamas groups, and the one most openly backed by Israel, is the so-called Popular Forces, formerly led by Yasser Abu Shabab, an Israel-allied gang leader who was suddenly killed this month after a family dispute in Gaza turned violent, his group said.

Hamas and its supporters widely celebrated his death, handing out sweets in the enclave as a show of celebration that reveals the Islamist groups’ relief that one of its main internal challengers had been eliminated.

“This gang was one of the most serious reasons for the suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip… They were a major reason for guiding the occupation forces to the young men trapped inside the Rafah tunnels, which led to their arrest or targeting,” a Hamas affiliated group wrote on Telegram, referring to a pocket of Hamas fighters trapped in Israeli-occupied Gaza following the ceasefire.

Yet the militias’ ambitions clearly extend far beyond defeating Hamas. Groups like Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces in the south, Ashraf Mansi’s Popular Army in the north, Hussam al-Astal’s Counter-Terrorism Strike Force in the east, and Rami Hallas’ Popular Defence Army in the centre of Gaza are actively trying to prove their ability to govern locally.

The gangs are seeking to recruit civilians, calling on doctors, lawyers, and teachers to enlist. On social media, Abu Shabab has openly offered monthly salaries for fighters, promising US$1,000 for regular rank-and-file and $1,500 for officers willing to join him. Israel has acknowledged backing the group but it remains unclear how it is funded.

Hallas, commander of the Popular Defence Army, told CNN his group is largely composed of men previously imprisoned by the Hamas-run government. Hallas said the militia was formed in May in coordination with the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority with the initial task of securing humanitarian aid routes in eastern Gaza.

He said the mission has since evolved into what he called a “larger project.”

“It’s a very large project and I am a part of it,” he told CNN in a phone interview.

Gaza’s day-after plan

Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of the chief architects of Gaza’s day-after plan said in October that the enclave’s reconstruction could begin in Hamas-free zones, pointing specifically to Rafah – an area where Abu Shabab’s forces operate.

The leaders of the militias CNN spoke to insist they are part of the “day after” in Gaza, although it remains unclear if they will have enough public support to govern when and if Israel fully withdraws.

“Our role will be pivotal,” Al-Astal said before revealing plans to renovate a hospital in the area he operates from. “We are not a phenomenon that will vanish. … (We will) certainly be in the day- after (plan).”

Two Israeli sources familiar with the matter told CNN that Israel will continue to back the militias, even after Abu Shabab’s death. His militia was supposed to be involved in securing the intended reconstruction site in Rafah, one source said.

Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations said the militias, along with their families and a few other vetted Palestinians would be allowed to live in the Israeli-controlled areas as a “pretend population” in a reconstructed Rafah.

“Eastern Gaza is where reconstruction goes. West Gaza is left in ruins. Both are divided by the yellow line…The twist is nobody really lives in eastern Gaza and no one is allowed to live there… so the gangs are now serving a pretend population,” he said.

It’s unclear if Gaza’s residents would even consider moving to Israeli-occupied areas. Israeli forces have already killed a number of Palestinians who have approached the yellow line.

“It’s strange how people are able to move. If you go close to the yellow line, you’re dead,” Magdy, a resident of Gaza City told CNN, only providing his first name to protect his identity. “Those who go are considered spies (for Israel). There must be an authority that is Palestinian that would tell us to move. … We would only move when Israel withdraws.”

In the diplomatic limbo that exists between the first and second phase of the ceasefire, the militias have tried to establish themselves as a fixture of Gaza’s future. But without a plan for governance, they make the path forward even less clear, carving out their own interests in the war-torn territory still searching for peace.

Another Gaza resident, Abu Riad, said the majority of people in western Gaza would not move into Israeli-controlled territory.

“Why will we move into these (gang-controlled) areas? We will be moving towards the unknown.”