AhlulBayt News Agency: The Israeli military has launched an airstrike against Hamas fighters in Gaza as they were preparing to confront Daesh-linked militants, further exposing the connection between Tel Aviv and Takfiri groups.
According to the Hebrew-language i24NEWS channel, Hamas fighters engaged in gunfire with members of the Abu Shabab group in a Gaza neighborhood late Monday.
The clashes escalated overnight, resulting in casualties on both sides.
During the confrontation, the Israeli army deployed an aerial vehicle that fired a missile, killing four Hamas resistance fighters.
This marks the first Israeli airstrike aimed at assisting Daesh-linked Abu Shabab militants.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel has been supplying weapons to a gang associated with Daesh terrorists in Gaza to counter Hamas.
His statement followed remarks by Avigdor Lieberman, a Knesset member and former military affairs minister, who revealed that Israel had transferred weapons to criminal gangs.
“What did Lieberman leak? That security sources activated a clan in Gaza that opposes Hamas? What is bad about that?” Netanyahu said in a video posted online.
“It is only good, it is saving lives of Israeli soldiers.”
Lieberman was referring to a local Bedouin tribe led by Yasser Abu Shabab.
The leader of the Daesh-affiliated group has previously been imprisoned in Gaza, and his tribe’s elders have recently denounced him as an Israeli “collaborator and gangster.”
Evidence of the group’s role in Israel’s military campaign led prominent Abu Shabab family leaders to publicly distance themselves from the faction.
Yasser Abu Shabab also has a history of drug smuggling and has established a fortified base in an Israeli-controlled zone in Rafah under Tel Aviv’s guidance.
He belongs to the Tarabin Bedouin tribe, which spans Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, southern Gaza, and the Negev Desert. A UN memo identified him as “the main influential figure behind the widespread and organized looting” of aid convoys to Gaza.
Last year, The New Arab reported that Abu Shabab and others were working alongside hundreds of thieves under Israeli protection near the Karem Abu Salem crossing, Gaza’s primary aid entry point.
Last week, Palestinian resistance fighters released videos showing Abu Shabab’s forces collaborating with Israeli undercover units targeting Palestinians in Rafah.
Senior Israeli commanders have warned that the military lacks the manpower and resources to achieve its objectives in Gaza. They acknowledge that Hamas remains in control of the territory nearly two years into the war.
Israeli intelligence estimates that approximately 20,000 Hamas fighters, including several commanders, are still active across Gaza.
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