Groups operating in Israeli controlled pockets of the Gaza Strip say they will press ahead with their fight against Hamas despite the killing of their most senior commanders, insisting that they have expanded their ranks with new recruits since the October ceasefire as they seek a foothold in Gaza’s political future.
Their emergence, still modest in size and influence, has added a new layer of pressure on Hamas and threatens to complicate efforts to stabilise and reunify a territory battered and divided by two years of war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in June that Israel had supported anti Hamas groups, saying Israel had “activated” some tribal linked factions, although Israeli authorities have given few details since then.
Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the campaign against what they called “armed gangs collaborating with Israel” would continue through various means. One source said Israel’s attempt to promote and empower such groups “failed from the outset” because they had not posed any meaningful challenge capable of threatening the movement.
Last week, Yasser Abu Shabab, widely seen as the central figure in efforts to form anti-Hamas forces in the southern city of Rafah, was killed. The Popular Forces group he led said he died while trying to mediate a family dispute, without disclosing who shot him. His deputy, Ghassan al-Dahini, has taken charge and vowed to continue the same path.
Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007, has so far refused to disarm under the ceasefire plan and has described its opponents as Israeli “agents”, a view that Palestinian analysts say enjoys broad public support.
The movement acted quickly against Palestinians who challenged its authority after the United States backed ceasefire took effect in October, killing dozens of people including some it accused of collaborating with Israel.
Hamas consolidates control
Almost all of Gaza’s roughly two million residents live in areas under full Hamas control, where the group is reasserting its hold. Four Hamas sources said it still commands thousands of fighters despite heavy losses during the war.
Hamas figures told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has failed to eliminate the movement during two years of war and that Hamas retains its manpower and much of its military infrastructure to varying degrees.
Residents in areas west of the yellow line that separates Hamas held zones from Israeli controlled territory say the group deploys security forces including police and other agencies, and at night members of the Qassam Brigades, to maintain order and prevent infiltration by Israeli special units.
One source stressed that preserving the group’s strength “does not mean we insist on keeping control of the Strip or prolonging the war. We are committed to completing the agreement stages through a Palestinian national consensus”.
Israel still controls more than half the enclave, areas where Hamas’s rivals are active outside the group’s reach. With implementation of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan moving slowly, there are no signs of further Israeli withdrawals for now.
Anti-Hamas forces expand
Three Egyptian security and military sources said Israeli backed groups have stepped up activity since the ceasefire. They estimated their numbers at around one thousand fighters, up by four hundred since the truce began.
Egypt plays a central role in negotiations to end the conflict. The sources said these groups are likely to escalate operations in the absence of a comprehensive agreement on Gaza’s future.
A diplomat who requested anonymity said the factions lack any popular base but added that their emergence raises concerns about Gaza’s stability and heightens the risk of Palestinian infighting.
Since Abu Shabab’s death, his faction and two others have released videos showing gatherings of dozens of fighters.
On December 7, al-Dahini said two men were executed in late November. He described them as Hamas fighters and said they had killed a Popular Forces member.
A senior security official in the armed factions alliance led by Hamas in Gaza said the killing of a “collaborator”, along with the group’s public display of images, was an empty victory. “It will not change the facts on the ground,” he said.
Tactical motives
Witnesses said some Palestinians in nearby Khan Younis celebrated Abu Shabab’s death by handing out sweets.
Ghassan al-Khatib, a lecturer in international studies at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, said that although Hamas’s popularity has declined due to the impact of the war, the anti Hamas factions have no future because Palestinians view them as collaborators.
“Israel uses them only for tactical reasons, especially to undermine Hamas’s control,” he said.
A spokesman for Fatah, the movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and which Hamas ousted from Gaza, said it rejects any armed groups backed by Israel.
He said such factions have no connection “to our people or to our national institutions, neither directly nor indirectly”.
Coordination with Israel
Hussam al-Astal, who heads another anti-Hamas faction based in Khan Younis, said he and al-Dahini agreed to continue what he called the “war on terrorism” during a visit to Abu Shabab’s grave in Rafah. He added, “Our project, New Gaza, will continue”.
In a separate phone call with Reuters in late November, al-Astal said his group had received weapons, money and other support from international friends whose identities he declined to reveal.
He denied receiving military assistance from Israel but confirmed contacts with Israeli authorities for coordinating the entry of food and all the resources we need to survive.
He said he was speaking from inside Gaza in the Israeli controlled zone near the yellow line where Israeli forces have pulled back. Al-Astal said the group has recruited new members since the truce and now has several hundred personnel including fighters and civilians.
A source close to the Popular Forces also said the group had seen significant growth in its ranks but gave no figures.
The Popular Forces did not respond to messages seeking comment via its Facebook page. The group previously denied receiving Israeli support.
Housing complexes
Beyond the disarmament of Hamas, the Trump plan calls for the creation of a transitional authority, deployment of a multinational force and reconstruction of the enclave.
But with no clarity on next steps, concerns are growing over a de facto partition between an interior area under Israeli control with few inhabitants and a coastal zone packed with displaced Palestinians and largely reduced to rubble.
During a tour of Gaza on Sunday, Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir said Israel “controls wide parts of the Gaza Strip and we will remain on those defensive lines”.
Anti-Hamas factions have said their objectives include creating safe zones for displaced Gazans.
In October, United States Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner said reconstruction funds could flow into Israeli controlled areas without waiting for the next phase of the plan, aiming to create model zones for Gazan residents.
According to two Israeli officials and three Western diplomats involved in planning for Gaza’s post war phase, Rafah is among the first sites identified by United States officials for such housing compounds, described as “alternative safe clusters”, although no timeline has been set.
A United States State Department spokesperson said Washington is working with partners “to provide housing and other services to the people of Gaza as quickly as possible”.
A United States official said Washington has had no formal contact with anti-Hamas groups and “provides no funding or support”.
They added that the US is not choosing winners or losers in Gaza. Aside from the exclusion of any future role for Hamas, it will be up to the people of Gaza to determine who governs Gaza.
