A New Militia Emerges in Gaza, Backed By Israel
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This message comes from NPR sponsor Rosetta Stone, an expert in language learning for 30 years. Right now, NPR listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership to 25 different languages for 50% off. Learn more at rosettastone.com slash NPR. Today on State of the World, a new militia emerges in Gaza and they're backed by Israel.

You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, May 10th. I'm Greg Dixon. For more than 20 months, Israel has been fighting a war against Hamas in Gaza, a war that began with a deadly Hamas attack on Israel. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. Most of Gaza lies in ruins.

Many of Hamas's leaders have also been killed, and while the group still holds some hostages, it has been severely weakened. But in more than a year and a half of war, no alternative to Hamas's rule has emerged either from Palestinians or from Israel. Well, now a new power has risen in Gaza. It is a militia, and it is receiving weapons from Israel. NPR's Ea Batraoui tells us what is known about the group and its origins.

The biggest looting of U.N. aid anywhere ever happened in southern Gaza last November. Here's U.N. spokesman Stefan DeJarik speaking to reporters about it then. You and I have been in these briefings for a few years. I don't ever recall any of us talking about a convoy of 109 trucks run by the U.N. being looted.

The looters took all the food, even the fuel and tires from the trucks. This brazen attack happened in an area of Gaza under Israeli military control near the border with Israel. It was one of many lootings that Palestinians say was carried out by gangs that became known as Ebo Shabeb, a group named after one of its leaders, Yasser Ebo Shabeb, a man Israel is now arming as a militia leader.

Ahmed Amawi is an aid coordinator in Gaza. He says Abu Shabab's looting of U.N. aid last year caused widespread hunger. We know very well, yes, Abu Shabab, he is a criminal, a fugitive, wanted for numerous drug-related charges.

Abou Shabab was in jail in Gaza when the war started back in 2023 for murder and drug smuggling. Hamas say he was freed when they opened the prisons to spare people from Israeli airstrikes all around.

What was suspected in Gaza was that Abu Shabab's looters were supported by Israel, as their looting kicked the legs out from under the UN aid system, which Israel alleges Hamas was benefiting from. Last week, Israel's support for Abu Shabab was made explicit when opposition politician Avigdor Lieberman said this on Israeli public radio. But Netanyahu's idea for all time to

He said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is constantly trying to build something to counter something else. He says for years Netanyahu allowed Hamas to receive funding for its government to undermine the rival Palestinian authority. And he says we saw how that ended.

He says Netanyahu is now providing weapons to fighters from the extremist Islamic State group to counter Hamas in Gaza.

NPR has not been able to independently confirm that Abu Shabab's men fought with the Islamic State group, but some, like Yasser Abu Shabab, have cross-border smuggling links to tribes in Egypt's North Sinai, where the Islamic State group battled Egyptian forces in a years-long insurgency. Netanyahu responded to Lieberman by confirming Israel is backing tribes in Gaza.

He says Israel has, quote, activated clans that oppose Hamas and says, what's wrong with that? Before saying it's only good.

But even far-right ministers in his government say they do not support this idea. And neither do Palestinians, like Ahmed Fouad Al-Khatib. He's a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council who's had family killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. He's also opposed to Hamas in power, but says any alternative must have clear oversight by a Palestinian political body in order to govern with legitimacy, unlike Yasser Abu Shabaab. He creates this illusion that Gazans who are anti-Hamas...

are all somehow affiliated with the IDF, with the Israeli military. So that's what's dangerous about him. Abu Shabab, meanwhile, is now rebranding itself as Protectors of Aid, with photos of them securing routes for a new Israeli plan that restricts how food is distributed in Gaza. Health officials say at least 150 people have been killed by Israeli soldiers trying to reach these sites run by American contractors.

Israel says troops have fired warning shots. On a new Facebook page, Abu Shabab describes itself as a counter-terror group and labels itself the Popular Forces. In one of their videos, they call residents of southeast Gaza who've been forcibly displaced by the military to return, saying it's safe. It shows a family receiving food aid from them and empty tents they've erected.

The groups also posted photos brandishing what analysts say appear to be Hamas rifles seized by Israel. They're donning helmets, camo and tactical vests. And they have an insignia of an eagle eating a snake. But Hamas too has videos. In this, Hamas fighters scope out some of Abu Shabab's men, described as Zionist collaborators in South Gaza's Rafah. Several are then killed with an improvised explosive.

And Abu Shabaab this week, for the first time in the war, say they ambushed a group of Hamas security forces who target looters and collaborators in southern Gaza. Hamas say the Israeli military then struck their fighters to provide cover for Abu Shabaab to flee. Aya Batrawi, NPR News Dubai, with reporting by Anas Baba in Gaza City and Ahmed Abu Hamda in Cairo. That's the state of the world from NPR. For more coverage of all sides of this conflict, go to npr.org slash Mideast Updates.

Thanks for listening.

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