Armed gangs are running rampant across the Gaza Strip and using Israeli weapons to kill Hamas operatives and members of the public, according to a new report.
One group, named the Helles Gang, forced Palestinians out of a residential block onatIsrael’s request, according to Saudi outlet Asharq Al-Awsat, leading Hamas to ambush some of their members on the outskirts of Gaza City on Monday morning.
Several Palestinians were also killed as they approached the yellow line in the Shejaia and Tuffah neighbourhoods by the gang, the newspaper said.
Raad al-Jamal – one of the earliest members to join the group – was killed, gang leader Rami Helles wrote in a Facebook post.
Multiple criminal gangs have emerged as the Strip grapples with a power vacuum left by a Hamas depleted by intense Israeli bombardment. The factions vying for power have taken it upon themselves to kill senior Hamas members, with claims that some have been supported by Israel.
They have dubbed themselves “Popular Forces” or “Counterterrorism” as they continue to fight Hamas and others across the region.
The report suggests that Israel had high hopes for cooperation with the most prominent gang led by Yasser Abu Shabab, who was notorious for seizing humanitarian aid and later formed an armed group that spread under regions controlled by Israel.
Abu Shabab was later killed by Hamas and leadership of the group was passed down to Ghassan al-Dahini.
The report also found that the groups have assassinated members of the Hamas security services and the al-Qassam Brigades. The first such killing was carried out by Shawqi Abu Nseira’s group. An officer in Hamas’s Internal Security Service, Ahmed ZamZam, was killed in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
Sources told the newspaper that gang members in Gaza have obtained Israeli weapons, as well as food.
On 12 January, Hamas’s head of investigations Mahmoud al-Astal was killed in Khan Younis in an orchestrated assassination by a gang led by Housam al-Astal. Al-Astal is reported to have been a relative of the victim.
Abu Nseira and Housam al-Astal’s gangs are reported to display a stronger loyalty to Israel, sources told Asharq al-Awsat. They suggested that gunmen who carried out the attacks wore body cameras and used pistols with silencers. They also said the leaders had been trained by Mossad and recruited by Shin Bet.
Last year, 28-year-old journalist Saleh Al-Jafarawi was reportedly killed by the Dughmush clan amid clashes in the Sabra neighbourhood.
Al-Jafarawi’s body with a “press” flak jacket on was recovered from the back of a truck.
