CNN
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The photo shows a lean, tanned man in a dark helmet. He grasps the rifle and a UN vehicle moves behind him over the traffic.
The man is Yassar Abu Shabaab, who says he has ordered hundreds of armed men known as popular forces to provide protection to international organizations working in southern Gaza.
In his early 30s, Abu Shabaab came from a prominent Bedouin family in southern Gaza. On October 7, 2023, he was suffering in a prison run by Hamas in Gaza, where he was accused of drug trafficking before being released after the conflict began.
He is now a new presence in southern Gaza, controlling aid routes near the important Kelem Shalom intersection, providing men with protection of their convoys to avoid looting.
With Hamas’ grip on Gaza weakened and territorial police hollowed out, the gangs stole humanitarian assistance from the convoy and appeared to resell it. However, many transports are also stopped and plundered by desperate civilians.
Abu Shabaab told CNN he is leading “a group of citizens from this community who volunteered to protect humanitarian assistance from looting and corruption.”
The reality is more complicated.
Israeli officials have allowed weapons to Abu Shabaab militias as part of a procedure to arm local groups to counter Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the secret corporation earlier this week, saying security forces “have a clan revitalized in Gaza opposition to Hamas.” He did not name him Abu Shabaab, but Israeli officials told CNN that Abu Shabaab is part of the program.
Abu Shabaab insisted to CNN that his men had not received weapons from Israel. “Our equipment is very basic and is either handed over to volunteers from our ancestors or collected from limited local resources.”
Hamas says Abu Shabaab is a traitor and a gangster. Last week, the group said: “We swear before God that we will stand up to the den of that criminal and his gangsters, regardless of the cost of the sacrifice we have committed.”
According to Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza analyst at the European Council of Foreign Relations, Hamas killed his brother last year and tried to kill Abu Shabaab at least twice.
In response to a written question from CNN, Abu Shabaab repeatedly denied ties with the Israeli army, saying, “Our military forces are not involved in communications with the Israeli army either directly or indirectly.”
Analysts find it difficult to believe based on evidence of his movement in Israeli-controlled regions in Gaza. One video from late May shows Abu Shabaab stopping the Red Cross and talking to officials. CNN introduced encounters to Earth in an Israeli controlled buffer zone near the intersection of Kerem Shalom. Other videos show encounters with UN convoys in the same region.
Israel, and especially Netanyahu, have never made a clear plan as to what Gaza and security would look like for whether or when Hamas was defeated. Israel is trying to find groups and clans against Hamas that could play a role, but recently Netanyahu and other ministers have approved plans that US President Donald Trump proposed to relocate Gaza residents and redevelop the territory.
Abu Shabaab has been around the ruins of Gaza’s long-defunct airport in Rafa since the end of last year. ECFR’s Shehada said that while a ceasefire took place earlier this year, his group appeared to have disappeared.
However, his importance has grown in recent weeks since Israeli authorities began allowing trickles of aid to reach Gaza through Kelem Shalom in mid-May. Abu Shabab’s social media presence is expanding with smooth videos and fluent English commentary.
“It’s almost impossible for this to happen within Gaza,” Shehada said. “It’s probably the outsiders who are running this whole Psy-op.”
The diplomat told CNN that the UN had to deal with local elements when it tried to distribute aid, whether or not it was supported by Hamas.
Abu Shabaab “has several square kilometres of the area under his control, but that follows the next man,” officials said. “The fact that he is not targeted by the Israelis clearly shows how they view him.”
Officials also alleged that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial new US aid organization tasked with distributing aid in Gaza, had contact with Abu Shabaab, whether directly or indirectly.
Abu Shabab responded to CNN, “It emphasizes the need to operate within a unified national framework and maintain continuous coordination with all legitimate parties regarding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.”
GHF told CNN on Sunday that there will be no collaboration with Abu Shabab’s group. “We have local Palestinian workers who are extremely proud of us, but they are unarmed and they are not part of the Abu Shabaab organization,” GHF said.
Fleets etc.
Just after limited aid began entering Gaza last month, Abu Shabaab posted that he praised his group, primarily flour, for securing 101 aid brought by the world food programmes, “my loyal brother who sacrificed his life, and for “a primitive weapon or drop of sweat, permeated, hair removal and impermeable.”
The truck driver told CNN that Shabaab provided 200 armed men to protect the fleet.
“Our military forces regularly accompany aid convoys and protect vulnerable civilians is one of our top priorities,” Abu Shabaab told CNN.
His group’s role extends beyond convoy protection.
According to satellite images reviewed by CNN, work began at a tent camp in eastern Rafa the day before Kerem Shalom Crossing resumed, the day before Kerem Shalom Crossing resumed. The work appears to have ended on May 30th.
The camp is less than 500 meters from where Abu Shabaab operates the checkpoint.
Four days later, the so-called popular military issued a statement that Abu Shabaab “invited residents of these regions to provide food, drinks, shelter, safety and security, shelter camps were set up and humanitarian relief routes were opened.”
The camp is located in an area known as the Morag Corridor, and Israeli forces hope that Gazan will move to order evacuation orders for most of the strip.
In early May, far-right Israeli finance minister Bezarel Smotrich said Gaza’s population would be “concentrated” on the narrow land between Egyptian borders and corridors.
At the same time, Israeli officials said the goal was to separate humanitarian aid from Hamas “by involving private companies and creating safe zones patrolled by the IDF.”
This includes “sterile areas in the Rafah area beyond the Morag route where IDF screens all participants and prevents Hamas intruders.”
Palestine branding
Although Abu Shabaab’s troops use Palestinian insignia and raise flags prominently on uniforms, he told CNN “The grassroots army is not an official authority and operates under direct missions from the Palestinian authorities.”
Major General Anwar Rajab, the office of a spokesman for Palestinian security forces, told CNN there was no connection between Palestinian security equipment and Abu Shabaab’s group.
His family wants nothing to do with him.
“The Abu Shabaab leaders and elders” said in a statement that he faced him over the video that he “had been involved in dangerous security engagement, worked within a secret agent unit, and even supported the Zionist occupation forces who brutally killed people.”
The family declared “complete separation from Yasser Abu Shabab” and urged anyone who joined his security group to do the same.
“We have no objection to the people around him being eliminated immediately. We are clearly saying that his blood is wasted,” the family statement said.
Abu Shabab told CNN the statement was “manufactured falsehood” and accompanied by a “media campaign targeting me and my colleagues.”
He said his group “bearing false accusations and systematic smear campaigns, and we paid a huge price.” Hamas also claims he killed some of the group’s volunteers.
ECFR’s Muhammad Shehada said there was evidence that Abu Shabaab’s presence is expanding Israeli support and expanding to Khan Yunis, north of his base.
Still, his reach is still limited. The popular forces talk about “hundreds of daily requests received on their Facebook pages from individuals trying to join us,” but analysts believe Abu Shabaab is likely only around 300 under his command.
Most people in Gaza never thought of joining him for fear of being a branded collaborator, Shehada said.
Still, he added that Abu Shabaab militias served multiple functions for the Israelis, helping them control where aid would or would not. They are trying to seduce hopeless and hungry people into the so-called “safe zone” of eastern Rafa. Perform a high-risk mission to detect the presence of Hamas fighter jets.
