Yasser Abu Shabab, an Arab militia commander who collaborated with Israeli forces in eastern Rafah, was murdered on Thursday in a violent scuffle in territory that is under Israeli military control.
Defense officials estimate that the fight stemmed from internal disputes in the militia, which escalated over the past few weeks and became out of hand.
Abu Shabab was punched and kicked by the members of his own militia. The defense establishment stresses that "Hamas terrorists were not involved."
During the scuffle, Abu Shabab's second-in-command, Rasan a-Dahini, was injured. The two were evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. A-Dahini survived the incident and is suffering minor wounds after he was shot in the leg.
The “Popular Forces” militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, issued an official statement confirming Abu Shabab’s death. According to the announcement, “he was hit by gunfire while attempting to resolve a clan dispute,” and the group stressed that reports claiming he was killed by Hamas operatives “are not true.”
The militia also wrote that "the Popular Forces will continue on the same path until the final elimination of the terrorists in Gaza and the building of a safe future for our peace-seeking people."
Abu Shabab told an interview he gave to KAN News in the past that his people are young Palestinians from the Strip who do not belong to any political or organizational idea. "We tasted the bitterness and injustice caused to us by Hamas and took upon ourselves to deal with this aggression," he said in an interview. "We will become a support for our people to remove this injustice." Shabab emphasized: "We support any legitimate force that adopts the idea of removing injustice and corruption".
"We have young people and we have an army. We are conducting training in the field. We have undertaken to work for the liberation of the people from injustice and violence. We have strength, and there will be victims and bloodshed. We will pay the price to liberate our people. There is no prohibition against direct confrontation with Hamas and no prohibition against civil war, whatever the cost may be."
He clarified that his organization operates in the southern Gaza Strip, especially in Rafah, and is in an area under full control of the IDF. "We move easily in Rafah, but there are other areas in the southern Gaza Strip where we move with caution. We entered Khan Yunis, the Nasser Hospital - which was previously held by Hamas - without security in these areas, like the areas under the control of the IDF. We entered these areas and carried out operations beyond the expected."
Abu Shabaab claimed that after Hamas withdraws from power, the Popular Forces would take over. "Hamas knows and understands this; we will be the heirs in Gaza after the defeat of Hamas."
Abu Shabab was asked about the arrest warrant issued by Hamas, which called on him to surrender within ten days: "Instead of Hamas issuing arrest orders, they should judge those who committed the October 7th massacre. They are the cause of the Palestinian people's plight, the persecution of civilians, and the killing of the innocent. They should put themselves on trial, not the rest of the people."
"As for me, their threats and their slanderous trial did not move me. Hamas is only an illusion, a hot air balloon. Hamas is fighting for its life, it is going for a deal that is the last way to preserve its existence. They are near their end both in morale and material worlds, and I am pursuing them in the material world."