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ABC News
9 hours ago
- ABC News
Israel said Hamas was looting aid — then it armed the gangs who were actually stealing it
Groups of men huddle around fires, waiting for aid trucks to roll through central Gaza. Some of them used to be teachers and other professionals. Now, they have banded together to form gangs and raid aid convoys. The scene is like one from the Mad Max movies, a dystopian setting where there are no rules. "We are a group of men organised into crews — we call ourselves 'the ones who block the roads'," one of the men, Mohammad Salman, told the ABC. "If you want to get aid and secure food, you have to come through here; otherwise you won't eat. "Today, all these people have become gangsters. They seize food from trucks and anything they find on the road. They'll take food away from anyone. If someone grabs food from a truck and I don't get my share, I'll go after him. "That's how we have become. If someone gets something, I will take it from him to eat. Some of the men say they have worked with a gang leader named Yasser Abu Shabab. Once a wanted criminal, it's now widely believed that Abu Shabab has been armed and protected by the Israeli government — to take control of the part of southern Gaza where his family holds sway. Abu Shabab is apparently an unlikely figure to lead a resistance against Hamas's rule in Gaza, Gazan analyst Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in The New Arab. "To them, he didn't seem like someone with the leadership skills necessary to form a group of 300 armed militants, steal truckloads of aid, and store it under the radar." Israeli media have reported Abu Shabab escaped from jail with Israeli assistance early in the war. "He was in a Hamas prison until October 2023 for theft and drug offences, and his release came under the cover of an Israeli attack on security facilities in the Strip at the beginning of the war. From that moment on, his name emerged as someone who would fill the security vacuum in eastern Rafah," the Israeli newspaper Maariv wrote. The United Nations has identified Abu Shabab's gang as one of those raiding aid convoys when they entered Gaza, saying they were doing so with the apparent protection or indifference of the Israeli military. Former French diplomat Jean-Pierre Filliu, who spent one month in Gaza with Doctors Without Borders from December 2024 to January 2025, said he witnessed the gang being protected by the IDF while looting trucks. "The Israeli military recognised its inability to promote a clan-based alternative to Hamas and decided to rely more or less openly on organised crime," he wrote in Le Monde. "The key figure in this manoeuvre was a previously minor member of a Rafah family, Yasser Abu Shabab, whom Hamas had imprisoned in the past for his various trafficking activities. But Israeli protection allowed Abu Shabab to substantially expand its activities and poach, from other clans, some 100 loyalists ready for anything, often ex-convicts. "What could only be called a gang operated under the eyes of the Israeli army … and it was equipped with brand-new weapons, an irrefutable indication of its collaboration with the occupiers." A gang member confirmed to the ABC that Abu Shabab's group had been stealing and selling aid. "People would work normally with Yasser just like employees. He had two shifts. It was easy," the gang member said. The man explained that much of the looted food was then sold to merchants, although he insisted aid groups were given some of it. "They would unload the goods, and traders would come to buy them. Half of the supplies were distributed to institutions like schools," he said. "The aid agency would arrive to collect its share and then distribute it to schools." The gang member alleged Hamas had previously been stealing some aid, something the group denies. "He [Yasser] was working in security when he saw the government and Hamas members stealing from the aid trucks as they passed through central Gaza and Nuseirat," he told the ABC. "That's when he decided to take action — stealing the trucks to distribute some of the aid himself, handing out money, flour … and that was it." Abu Shabab and his men, now calling themselves "the Anti-Terror Service" or the "Popular Forces", have been accused by many Gazans of working with the Israeli government. The Israeli government has said openly it has backed groups like the one Abu Shabab runs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted in June that his government had "activated" clans in Gaza opposed to Hamas. That sparked concerns from the opposition that their weapons could eventually be turned on the IDF, or used to create unmanageable chaos. "In consultation with security officials, we made use of clans in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas," he said in a video on social media. The Times of Israel said Defence officials had confirmed Mr Netanyahu was referring to the Abu Shabab gang. "The sources confirmed that Israel has been arming the gang with Kalashnikov rifles, including some that were seized from Hamas during the ongoing war," it wrote on June 5. Former Israeli Defence minister Avigdor Lieberman has alleged Abu Shabab had ties to the IS terrorist group. "The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister," he told Israeli public radio. The Abu Shabab group was alleged to be providing security for the new, Israeli and US-backed food distribution operation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It denied any links with the gang. "GHF has no association with Yasser or the 'Anti-Terror Service'," it said in a statement sent to the ABC. Hamas fighters have attacked the group, but said Israeli forces came to its defence, Israeli media reported. The arrival of the new aid operation has changed conditions in the south of Gaza, but Hamas is still keen to kill or imprison Abu Shabab again. On July 2, the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry in Gaza gave Abu Shabab 10 days to surrender himself and face trial for treason. The ABC called and sent messages to Yasser Abu Shabab but did not receive a response. Comment has also been sought from the Israeli government and the IDF. Meanwhile, the Israeli government and military continue to dismiss United Nations reports of a worsening hunger crisis in Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is only distributing food parcels at limited locations in southern and central Gaza. Israel's government last month stopped allowing food shipments into the north. The "men who block the roads" are still waiting by the aid routes, hoping for any chance to seize supplies and stay alive.
SBS Australia
a day ago
- SBS Australia
'Footnote in history': Australian woman fears for the future of family's ancient village
Dena Dahdal has fond memories of childhood summers in the village where both her parents were born and her cousins still live. "Dad thought it was important we knew our historical roots and where we come from ... so we'd go back often," the Sydney history teacher told SBS News. "It's where Jesus walked the same streets that my ancestors walked." Taybeh is widely considered to be the last wholly Christian town in the occupied West Bank. The Christian New Testament describes Jesus staying in the town, then known as Ephraim two thousand years ago. "We used to play hide and seek in everybody's houses, the neighbour's houses. I always felt safe when I was in Taybeh," Dahdal said. But now she says her family there are worried, feeling threatened and insecure. Dena Dahdal (top left) with her family in Palestinian village Taybeh. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal A site steeped in history attacked A recent alleged arson attack by Israeli settlers right next to the archaeological site of a fifth-century church has made locals fear for the village's very existence. Last week, Taybeh residents saw settlers setting fire to the fields around the Church of St. George and nearby cemetery, according to the Times of Israel. The Church no longer has a roof or all four walls but the original walls and mosaic tiles built by Christians in the 5th century remains. The church of St George in Taybeh was built in the 5th century. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal Parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Latin church in Taybeh, Father Bashar Fawadleh that people in the village are "so afraid" after a fire was lit next to the church last week. "I'm so sad that I can see the fire beside the church and beside the mosaic and the land," he told SBS News. "Why do you make something like that against us, when we don't have any problems against you?" He said villagers ran to put out the fire. Dahdal says the Church archaeological site is a very special place for her and her family and she felt angry at the thought of its destruction. "It's an ancient relic and something that can never be replaced," she said. "This village is ... a continuous thread of Christian presence. This church is a symbol of it. So the fact the fire was so close it's just so telling about what's happening in the village at large." 'Cannot remain silent': Faith leaders issue warning Faith leaders among the Palestinian Christian community have raised serious concerns about escalating violence and harassment at the hands of Israeli settlers in the past week. The heads of three churches from the village have released a joint statement condemning the attacks, saying this was the culmination of recent weeks of provocations, and that more than half of the town's territory has become a target for illegal settlement. The settlers were routinely seen grazing cattle on the land, damaging olive trees central to the livelihoods of Taybeh's 1,200 residents. "We cannot remain silent in the face of these relentless attacks that threaten our very existence on this land," the heads of the Greek Orthodox Church, Latin Church and Melkite Greek Catholic Church wrote in a joint statement. "Forcibly removing farmers from their land, threatening their churches, and encircling their towns is a wound to the living heart of this nation." Taybeh villagers say Israeli settlers have deliberately grazed cattle next to their olive tree crops so that the cows will destroy them. Source: Supplied They called for an immediate and transparent investigation into the attacks. Taybeh mayor Suleiman Khouriah recently said in a statement: "Entering these lands now comes with serious danger." "They've prevented us from harvesting our olives, most of which are located in the restricted area we are banned from entering." Father Daoud Khoury of the Greek Orthodox Church, Father Jacques-Noble Abed of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and Father Bashar Fawadleh of the Latin Church in Taybeh spoke out about an alleged arson attack in Taybeh. Source: Supplied Fawadleh said Palestinian people are the "living stones of the land" and won't move despite provocations. In a statement to SBS, the Israeli Defence Forces said it acts decisively against any manifestations of violence within its jurisdiction. The IDF is not aware of any new checkpoints being placed in the village or its surroundings. Last year the International Court of Justice issued an advisory ruling that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories including the West Bank and settlements there are illegal and must be removed. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them. Dena Dahdal regularly visits the Palestinian village Taybeh. Source: Supplied / Dena Dahdal Israeli leaders argue the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard them as occupied territory. Dahdal fears Christian Palestinians could become "a footnote in Palestinian history", issuing a plea to worldwide followers of the faith. "I want the world, especially Christians, to stop romanticising the Holy Land while ignoring people who live there," Dahdal said. "If Christians around the world truly care about the land of Christ, they should care about the people who carry his message. "Taybeh needs more than sympathy, it needs protection."
Canberra Times
a day ago
- Canberra Times
Gaza truce talks falter, 17 die in latest aid shooting
Witnesses who spoke to Reuters described people being shot in the head and torso. Reuters saw several bodies of victims wrapped in white shrouds as family members wept at Nasser Hospital. The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots, but that its review of the incident had found no evidence of anyone hurt by its soldiers' fire.
