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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://mondoweiss.net/2025/05/israel-is-creating-a-power-vacuum-in-gaza-by-backing-armed-looters-and-killing-anyone-who-tries-to-stop-them/?ml_recipient=153741492291110280&ml_link=153741423337801582&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-05-07&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation">mondoweiss.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel is creating a power vacuum in Gaza by backing armed looters \u2014 and killing anyone who tries to stop them</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Faris Giacaman</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">May 6, 2025</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<img src="cid:ii_mae7iqr70" alt="200125_Gaza_HD_003-1536x1121.jpg" width="473" height="345"><br>
<font size="1">Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of Gaza\u2019s Security Service, flanked by police
officers on a field visit in Gaza City during the ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas, January 20, 2025. Abu Sultan was assassinated
alongside several Gaza government leaders on March 18. (Photo: Hadi
Daoud/APA Images)
</font><br><p>Israel has been waging a war on Gaza\u2019s ability to govern itself and
maintain law and order as a part of its 18-month-long genocidal
campaign. The broad objective of this strategy has been to create a
civil and humanitarian vacuum in Gaza that would lead to chaos and
lawlessness. The intended effect, in Israel\u2019s eyes, is either total
social collapse, the spread of criminality, or the emergence of an
alternative \u201cclan\u201d-based leadership in Gaza instead of Hamas. Israel
stands to gain from any of those scenarios.</p>
<p>To make sure this administrative vacuum is maintained, Israel has
launched periodic assassination campaigns targeting members of Gaza\u2019s
civil government \u2014 the police force, the security forces, the Civil
Defense, and the healthcare system. </p>
<p>Israel has instrumentalized the fact that all these civil branches of
government in Gaza, by definition, fall under Hamas control, given that
it is the ruling faction in the strip. Consequently, it labels any Gaza
civil servant as a \u201cHamas operative,\u201d an association that has allowed
Israel to legitimize the targeting of an entire category of civilian
workers. They have included firefighters, medics, nurses, doctors, first
responders, police officers, and other civil servants who were killed
in the line of duty.</p>
<p>Over the past several months, <em>Mondoweiss </em>has collected
testimonies from officials and field operatives in the Gaza government\u2019s
civil branches, documenting Israel\u2019s targeting campaign and its
sanctioning of looting and lawlessness to exacerbate famine conditions
in Gaza. On one occasion, <em>Mondoweiss </em>was also able to obtain testimony from a young man who joined a group that looted aid convoys in December 2024. </p>
<p>Our reporting shows that dismantling these components of Gaza\u2019s civil
services has been a key objective of Israel\u2019s genocide. On the other
side of that process, the Israeli army has either encouraged or turned a
blind eye to armed gangs that have intermittently looted aid trucks,
marketplaces, and warehouses in Gaza throughout the past 18 months of
war. </p>
<p>But today, growing evidence from local reports shows that Israel is
actively fomenting and possibly arming them as they loot scarce food
resources \u2014 and then targets and kills those who attempt to stop the
robberies. Some of those killed by Israel are community volunteers,
according to local sources, while many others are police officers and
security personnel in the civilian branch of Gaza\u2019s government.</p>
<p>The most recent of these attacks came just last week when Israeli
airstrikes killed a number of police officers and civilians who were
protecting markets and food warehouses in Gaza City. One police officer,
killed on May 2 while on duty in the al-Nasr area of Gaza City, was
identified as As\u2019ad Yahya Kafarneh. <a href="https://x.com/mohammed_awed12/status/1918395115967791513?s=46&t=kWr9Cxh8rnTkK4lRyrYujw">According to one family member</a>,
Kafarneh was in charge of a police patrol leading efforts to \u201cconfront
gangs collaborating with the Israeli occupation, which work to rob food
storage facilities.\u201d</p>
<p>According to several reports from eyewitnesses and local journalists, compiled in <a href="https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/1918462642164814125">a thread</a>
by Drop Site News, many of these gangs seem to be doing the looting
with Israeli air support from quadcopter drones, with some eyewitnesses
saying that it is part of a \u201ccoordinated effort to spread insecurity\u201d in
Gaza. Drop Site contributor Abubaker Abed also <a href="https://x.com/abubakerabedw/status/1918671205231476819?s=46&t=kWr9Cxh8rnTkK4lRyrYujw">cited local reports</a>
indicating the existence of undercover Israeli operatives posing as
Gazans who supply weapons and arm local gangs to carry out robberies.
\u201cThe timing of their crimes is exactly in line with the appearance of
warplanes in the sky,\u201d Abed added.</p>
<p>\u201cThese acts are not spontaneous,\u201d Ismail Thawabta, the head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, told <em>Mondoweiss </em>in
a statement on Sunday. \u201cThey are not the result of hunger or necessity,
as is being said, but are backed by malicious intentions aiming to sow
chaos and damage the social fabric.\u201d</p>
<p>Thawabta added that some of the looting groups are \u201cdirectly acting
on the directives of Israeli forces.\u201d They are armed and
\u201csemi-organized,\u201d he said, and \u201csome of the known names have been
brought before the law and neutralized.\u201d </p>
<p>Thawabta asserted that security forces in Gaza are working to uncover
these networks \u201cwith decisiveness and responsibility,\u201d vowing to
prevent \u201cany security vacuum that could be exploited.\u201d</p>
<p>This security vacuum was directly created by Israel\u2019s concerted
campaign of targeting members of the Gaza government\u2019s civilian branches
and assassinating its leaders. The killings have led the Hamas
government\u2019s civil servants to go underground.</p>
<p>\u201cThe occupation wants to destroy Gaza\u2019s entire civil infrastructure,\u201d
Abu Udai, the head of the Information Security Department of a
government security agency in Gaza City, told <em>Mondoweiss </em>in a statement in March following the <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2025/03/israel-resumes-its-war-on-gaza-killing-over-350-people-in-one-night/">breakdown of the short-lived ceasefire</a>
between Israel and Hamas. \u201cEveryone who holds government positions,
even low-level positions, feels in constant danger\u2026especially for their
families, because the majority of those assassinated were killed with
their families.\u201d</p>
<p>When Israel broke the ceasefire on March 18, it killed 400 people in
one night, including 130 children. Among the civil service leaders
targeted were the coordinator of government action in Gaza, Isam
Da\u2019alis, the Deputy Minister of Justice, Mahmoud Hatteh, the Deputy
Minister of Interior, Ahmad Abu Watfeh, and the head of the Security
Service, Bahjat Abu Sultan. </p>
<img width="473" height="288" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/200125_Gaza_HD_0038-1024x623.jpg" alt="Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of Gaza's Security Service, on a field visit in Gaza City during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, January 20, 2025. Abu Sultan was assassinated alongside several Gaza government leaders on March 18. (Photo: Hadi Daoud/APA Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Bahjat
Abu Sultan, head of Gaza\u2019s Security Service, on a field visit in Gaza
City during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, January 20, 2025.
Abu Sultan was assassinated alongside several Gaza government leaders on
March 18. (Photo: Hadi Daoud/APA Images)
<p>At the time, <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-03-18/ty-article/.premium/idf-targeting-hamas-civil-leadership-to-undermine-its-ability-to-control-gaza/00000195-a900-dbcf-a5f7-af083c2d0000?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=author-alert&utm_campaign=Yaniv+Kubovich&utm_term=20250318-15:39"><em>Haaretz </em>published a report</a>
giving the impression that the targeting of civil leaders was new. A
source \u201cfamiliar with cabinet discussions\u201d told the Israeli newspaper
that Netanyahu \u201cbelieves the mode of fighting in Gaza needs to change,
and Israel should target not only the military leadership of Hamas, but
also its civil leadership.\u201d According to <em>Haaretz</em>, \u201cthe
government hopes that armed gangs not loyal to the organization,
so-called \u2018clans,\u2019 will take over if Hamas\u2019s domestic control weakens.\u201d</p>
<p>But none of these strategies of targeting civil government personnel
are new. Israel has deliberately targeted leaders and low-level civil
servants over the past 18 months, especially the police force and
security units assigned to protect aid convoys from looting. The most
recent wave of assassinations, coupled with the spread of anarchy in
Gaza, is just the latest escalation.</p>
<img width="473" height="266" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/210125_Rafah_DB_0042-1024x576.jpg" alt="Security guards sit atop trucks carrying humanitarian aid coming in from the Karam Abu Salem border crossing in al-Shoka, east of Rafah, during the ceasefire January 21, 2025. (Photo: Doaa el-Baz/APA Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Security
guards sit atop trucks carrying humanitarian aid coming in from the
Karam Abu Salem border crossing in al-Shoka, east of Rafah, during the
ceasefire January 21, 2025. (Photo: Doaa el-Baz/APA Images)
<h2><strong>Creating a security vacuum</strong></h2>
<p>During the first six months of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, one of Israel\u2019s
main field objectives was to displace Palestinians from northern Gaza to
the south, which it aimed to achieve through outright starvation and
the blocking of aid convoys from reaching the north. For months during
early 2024, food convoys were assailed by both looters and <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-148-un-reports-at-least-14-cases-of-israel-firing-on-palestinians-waiting-for-aid-in-gaza/">Israeli army attacks</a>.
The latter incidents often resulted in several high-profile massacres
near the Nabulsi roundabout and the Kuwaiti roundabout in northern Gaza,
where the Israeli army had set up checkpoints and designated the roads
going through them for the passage of aid convoys. </p>
<p>Prolonged starvation also pushed crowds of people to rush aid convoys
at these roundabouts when trucks did arrive, adding to the chaos. The
most infamous incident was the \u201c<a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/flour-soaked-in-blood/">flour massacre</a>\u201d
on February 29, when the Israeli army mowed down over 100 desperate
aid-seekers at the Nabulsi roundabout on al-Rashid Street, west of Gaza
City. </p>
<p>In many cases where convoys were attacked, the Israeli army was
targeting police members who were providing protection to the convoys
from looters. In fact, according to <em><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/24/gaza-humanitarian-aid-israel-hamas-police-biden">Axios</a></em>,
the Biden administration had asked Israel back in February 2024 to
\u201cstop targeting members of the Hamas-run civilian police force who
escort aid trucks in Gaza, warning that a \u2018total breakdown of law and
order\u2019 is significantly exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.\u201d</p>
<div>
<img width="473" height="315" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/mabhouh.jpeg" alt="Faiq Mabhouh, Director of Operations of the Gaza police force, was assassinated by Israel at al-Shifa Hospital for his role in combating looting gangs and facilitating the safe delivery of aid to northern Gaza. (Photo: Social Media)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Faiq
Mabhouh, Director of Operations of the Gaza police force, was
assassinated by Israel at al-Shifa Hospital on March 18, 2024, for his
role in combating looting gangs and facilitating the safe delivery of
aid to northern Gaza. (Photo: Social Media)</div>
<p>This Israeli policy hindered the ability of the police to directly
guarantee the safety of the aid convoys, so aid officials from the UN\u2019s
OCHA and the World Food Programme started working with the local
community to try to protect aid convoys. Locals organized popular
committees composed of tribal leaders, local clan members, and community
volunteers. But the police force was not uninvolved: the popular
committees were coordinated by a central figure in Gaza\u2019s police force,
Director of Operations Faiq Mabhouh, who was based in al-Shifa Hospital
alongside the leadership of other branches of the civil government. </p>
<p>The popular committees\u2019 efforts were successful for a few days in
mid-March, with aid convoys arriving in places like the besieged Jabalia
refugee camp. On March 17, 13 aid trucks arrived in the north Gaza
refugee camp without incident, and to much popular fanfare. Another
flour massacre had been averted. </p>
<p>The very next day, the Israeli army laid siege to al-Shifa Hospital,
with the express purpose of assassinating Faiq Mabhouh and razing the
hospital to the ground. At the time, <em>Mondoweiss </em><a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/the-real-reason-israel-stormed-al-shifa-hospital-yet-again/">reported on the chain of events</a>
that led to the invasion of the al-Shifa medical compound, which served
as a base of operations for the police force, the Civil Defense, and
other civilian branches of government. </p>
<p>Israeli propaganda about a fictional Hamas \u201ccommand-and-control
center\u201d in al-Shifa contained a kernel of truth: al-Shifa was a nexus
for northern Gaza\u2019s social order and allowed a safe haven for the
coordination of humanitarian and rescue efforts in times of war. For
that same reason, al-Shifa became a crucial target of Israel\u2019s campaign
in northern Gaza, because the fall of al-Shifa would <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/04/israel-destroyed-al-shifa-hospital-to-accelerate-social-collapse-in-gaza/">accelerate social collapse</a> in the north.</p>
<p>Simultaneously, Israel launched a series of <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/12/targeted-aid-killings-how-israel-starved-a-population-and-sowed-chaos-in-northern-gaza/">targeted killings of over 100 members of the popular committees</a>
that had assisted in the aid deliveries. After those attacks, the
committees disbanded, unable to guarantee the safety of their members.</p>
<img width="473" height="301" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/200125_Gaza_HD_0023-1024x651.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Hamas-run
civilian police force in Gaza City begins working to maintain security
and order during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, January 20,
2025. (Photo: Hadi Daoud/APA Images)
<p>At around that same time, Israel had already floated the idea of
using local clans and known crime families, who had been suppressed by
Hamas during its period of rule over the Strip before the war, to assume
the mantle of control over Gaza. Mabhouh was rumored to have executed
the head of one of those families, the Doghmosh clan.</p>
<p>As Israel escalated its attacks to foil the civil government\u2019s
attempts to counteract Israel\u2019s starvation policy, criminal gangs began
to take hold in different pockets throughout Gaza, usually in areas that
had been cleared by the Israeli army and set up as \u201ckill zones,\u201d where
any civilians that wandered through were shot on sight.</p>
<p>After Israel invaded Rafah in May 2024 and closed down the Rafah
crossing, the only avenue for the entry of aid into Gaza was through the
Israeli-controlled Karam Abu Salem crossing. Rafah was systematically
demolished and cleared of inhabitants between May 2024 and the end of
the year. In those latter months, looting and banditry under the watch
of the Israeli army became endemic. </p>
<p>Gangs of hundreds of armed men were mostly concentrated in the Rafah
area. The most prominent and notorious gang was led by a man named
Yasser Abu Shabab, who became the object of interest in international
media reports after the UN named him in an internal memo shared with the
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/world/middleeast/gaza-looting.html">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/11/18/gaza-looting-aid-convoys-israel-famine/">The Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/29/aid-officials-recount-violent-looting-in-gaza-as-criminal-gangs-thrive-amid-israeli-bombardment">The Guardian</a>, and the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6a039600-d4f3-4aaa-ae0f-e4ca72cf2268">Financial Times</a>. Another man, Shadi Soufi, was also identified as another prominent gang leader wreaking havoc on aid convoys.</p>
<p>According to the UN memo, Abu Shabab and other gangs were likely
\u201cbenefiting from a passive if not active benevolence,\u201d or \u201cprotection,\u201d
by the Israeli army. The continuous thefts led to a plummeting in aid
delivery and skyrocketing prices as a result of looted aid being sold on
the black market. </p>
<p>Aid delivery became so dangerous that it got to the point that <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/12/unrwa-suspends-aid-delivery-through-main-gaza-crossing-after-looting-goes-unfettered-under-israeli-watch/">UNRWA suspended deliveries</a> through the Karam Abu Salem crossing in December 2024.</p>
<p>\u201cThe biggest problem is not only the theft of goods but the fact that
whoever shoots at the truck or the driver means to destroy and
vandalize the truck,\u201d said Merenda Barakat at the time, UNRWA\u2019s Deputy
Chief Area Officer, explaining the organization\u2019s decision to suspend
aid delivery. \u201cHe not only wants to steal; he doesn\u2019t want the truck to
return to work at the Karam Abu Salem crossing.\u201d</p>
<img width="473" height="315" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/160125_Gaza_OSH_1_0043-1024x683.jpg" alt="Humanitarian aid trucks continue to enter Gaza Strip and proceeded towards the distribution center following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza City, February 16, 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Humanitarian
aid trucks continue to enter Gaza Strip and proceeded towards the
distribution center following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in
Gaza City, February 16, 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)
<p>In December, <em>Mondoweiss </em>obtained testimony from a man who
briefly worked with a smaller group that waylaid aid convoys passing
through its area in Rafah. </p>
<p>Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Khuza\u2019a (not his real name),
23, once joined members of a group that stole aid \u201cfrom places that are
difficult to reach without security [coordination] with the Israeli
army,\u201d he said, clarifying that they were \u201careas near the Karam Abu
Salem crossing.\u201d</p>
<p>According to Khuza\u2019a, the group he was with was unarmed save for the
leader, who carried a pistol. Khuza\u2019a recounted that the leader was
\u201cconstantly talking to someone on the phone\u201d during the mission, \u201cwho
directed him where to go to reach the aid trucks.\u201d Khuza\u2019a indicated
that the leader of the group was in contact with other groups \u201cdoing the
same work,\u201d and that all those groups \u201cwent to areas under the
direction of the Israeli army.\u201d</p>
<p>Khuza\u2019a says that after a single expedition with the group, he
decided to stop joining them. \u201cI went once on a reconnaissance mission,\u201d
he said. \u201cBut I couldn\u2019t bear to go back a second time. It wasn\u2019t just
about the missing food supplies that we all needed to secure, it was
more than that: it was the fact that we were working under orders from
the Israeli army.\u201d</p>
<p>In light of these raids, the Gaza security forces, which are part of
the government\u2019s civil apparatus, formed a special unit in November 2024
consisting of members of the Intervention and Public Order Service and
the police force, called the \u201cArrow Unit.\u201d </p>
<p>After its formation, the Arrow Unit announced that it had ambushed
several thieves at the entrance to the Maghazi area in central Gaza. It
also organized an ambush of members of Abu Shabab\u2019s group, announcing on
November 19 that it had killed at least 20 members of the group, and
initially claimed that Abu Shabab was among the slain, alongside his
brother, Fathi. Later reports revealed that Abu Shabab had survived the
assassination attempt.</p>
<img width="473" height="355" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/200125_Gaza_HD_0034-1024x768.jpg" alt="Palestinian Hamas police officers begin working to maintain security and order during the ceasefire with Israel, Gaza City, January 20, 2025. (Photo: Hadi Daoud/APA Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Palestinian
Hamas police officers begin working to maintain security and order
during the ceasefire with Israel, Gaza City, January 20, 2025. (Photo:
Hadi Daoud/APA Images)
<p>\u201cWe tried from the first moment to address this problem with this
group that operated outside the law for many months,\u201d Ismail Thawabta,
the Gaza Media Office head, told <em>Mondoweiss </em>in December 2024. \u201cWe succeeded to a certain extent in this matter.\u201d</p>
<p>The crackdown of the security forces, and particularly the Arrow
Unit, was swift and often draconian, especially since the accused were
considered collaborators with Israel. Mainstream Western media outlets <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/us/politics/hamas-power-gaza-violence-israel.html">were predictably quick to cover</a> the repressive measures, highlighting how Hamas \u201cuses brutality to maintain power.\u201d</p>
<p>Thawabta explained that since these groups operated in the zone under
exclusive control of the Israeli army, and where Gaza security forces
could not go, they effectively worked \u201cunder the eyes of the occupation,
which facilitates these behaviors.\u201d In other words, Thawabta said, they
were treated as outright collaborators who played a role in
exacerbating famine and furthering the genocide.</p>
<p>A few months into the Hamas crackdown, Israel agreed to a ceasefire
with the organization, putting an end to hostilities between mid-January
and mid-March 2025. During this period, Gaza\u2019s civil government and
police force recuperated, spreading throughout Gaza and attempting to
restore order to areas that had been dominated by anarchy.</p>
<p>\u201cThe security services entered into a confrontation [with these
groups], losing many of their personnel to regain control,\u201d Abu Malek,
the director of a police station in Gaza City, told <em>Mondoweiss </em>in March after the ceasefire had fallen apart. \u201cThey regained control in many areas, such as Khan Younis, Rafah, and Gaza.\u201d</p>
<p>Abu Malek explained that the government was able to reassert civil
and administrative control over Gaza during the truce period, but that
the resumption of war \u201cbrought chaos back to the forefront.\u201d</p>
<img width="473" height="355" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/200125_Gaza_HD_0019-1024x768.jpg" alt="Bahjat Abu Sultan (center), head of Gaza's Security Service, on a field visit in Gaza City during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, January 20, 2025. Abu Sultan was assassinated alongside several Gaza government leaders on March 18. (Photo: Hadi Daoud/APA Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Bahjat
Abu Sultan (center), head of Gaza\u2019s Security Service, on a field visit
in Gaza City during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, January 20,
2025. Abu Sultan was assassinated alongside several Gaza government
leaders on March 18. (Photo: Hadi Daoud/APA Images)
<h2><strong>Emerging chaos</strong></h2>
<p>It has been nearly two months since the ceasefire fell apart and
Israel restarted its campaign of targeting the civil government and its
leaders. </p>
<p>In that period, the police force has tried to organize popular
emergency committees to provide services, Abu Malek said, including
coordinating efforts to deliver water, remove rubble from the streets in
coordination with municipalities, enforce price controls at
marketplaces, and \u201ccombat families, clans, bandits, and thieves who
seize aid.\u201d</p>
<p>Much of the recent surge in banditry in Gaza City can be seen as a
continuation of previous looting activity, but there are aspects of it
that are new. Some of these looting efforts are growing bolder and more
organized, according to local reports, in part due to Israel\u2019s suspected
assistance of these groups. In addition, since the majority of the Gaza
police force and security forces have either gone underground or now
operate clandestinely, it has become far more challenging to deal with
these gangs. A security vacuum has been created that the civil
government is struggling to fill.</p>
<p>As a result, calls are growing among families in Gaza for the clans
to take matters into their own hands to put a stop to the epidemic of
theft and criminality. These calls propose the formation of a new
\u201cunited leadership\u201d in Gaza to confront the phenomenon. Several clans
have already put out statements. </p>
<p>In a statement on May 1, the head of the Madhoun clan in Gaza called
for \u201cthe formation of a unified national leadership led by mayors, <em>mukhtars</em>
[clan leaders], reformers, neighborhood committees, national
institutions and personalities, and popular and youth committees\u201d to
confront lawlessness. The statement is couched in the language of
\u201csecuring the internal front\u201d and fighting the occupation\u2019s policies.</p>
<p>Another statement put out by the head of the al-Ghoul clan on the
same day limited itself to condemnations of the looting, which it said
was designed to \u201csow chaos and mutiny\u201d that was in line with \u201cthe
occupation\u2019s policy of persecuting and destroying our people.\u201d</p>
<p>While practical steps are yet to materialize from these clan
statements, they form a possible precedent in opening the way for bodies
other than Hamas to assume control in some parts of Gaza. Notably, it
appears that the calls for forming such committees are proposed as an
alternative to the committees that the government has been trying to
form in recent months. Government officials could not immediately be
reached for comment regarding the circulating statements or the
government\u2019s position on them.</p>
<p>In a statement to <em>Mondoweiss </em>on May 4, Ismail Thawabta
claimed that \u201cthe security situation is generally under control, despite
limited attempts from some lawless groups to exploit the humanitarian
conditions.\u201d The Gaza Media Office head said that criminal gangs are
\u201cbeing dealt with in the field.\u201d</p>
<p><a href="https://x.com/Houssem081989/status/1919086113362194851">Videos</a>
have circulated on social media purporting to show members of the Arrow
Unit beating suspected collaborators. One widely circulated <a href="https://x.com/SHIQAQII/status/1919093411803471945">video</a>
on May 3 showed a man supposedly \u201cconfessing\u201d to being a thief and
\u201crepenting\u201d on camera. Other circulating statements, also purporting to
be issued by the Arrow Unit, claimed that videos would be released \u201cin
the coming days\u201d showing the field execution of three collaborators with
Israel alongside their taped confessions.</p>
<p>Amid these circulating videos, Gaza\u2019s Interior Ministry stated on May
3 that it would continue to pursue the outlaws \u201cat any cost,\u201d and
Reuters has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-executes-looters-gaza-food-crisis-worsens-under-israeli-blockade-2025-05-04/">reported</a> that Hamas has already executed several looters it accuses of collaborating with Israel. </p>
<p>Abu Malek, the police station director in Gaza City, contended that
even though the Gaza government has been dealt a heavy blow since the
ceasefire fell apart, it can rebuild itself quickly \u201cif the human cadres
and the capabilities are available,\u201d adding that \u201cany destroyed entity
can rebuild itself.\u201d</p>
<p>But this task is made increasingly harder, since even civil government employees are now wanted by Israel.</p>
<p>Abu Udai, the head of the Information Security Department of a Gaza City government agency, conceded in testimony for <em>Mondoweiss </em>that
\u201cthe occupation took advantage of the ceasefire to gather information
about the relationships between wanted individuals, their families,
their connections, and their friends.\u201d</p>
<p>\u201cThis made the strike that violated the ceasefire agreement [on March
18] successful,\u201d Abu Udai added. \u201cA large number of leaders and their
families were targeted, and multiple figures were assassinated
simultaneously.\u201d</p>
<p>Abu Udai was himself the target of two different assassination
attempts, which killed his wife and two sons. Other than himself, his
9-year-old daughter was the sole survivor. As of the time of Abu Udai\u2019s
testimony, obtained in late March, he was still trying to covertly visit
his daughter, who was staying with an aunt.</p>
<p>\u201cWe cling to those who survive more than anything else,\u201d Abu Udai
explained. \u201cWe cannot abandon our families forever, so [Israel\u2019s] circle
of targeting becomes easier. Despite taking all precautions, the
occupation often manages to reach us.\u201d</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Faris Giacaman <br></strong>Faris Giacaman is Mondoweiss\u2019 Palestine Editorial Director.</p>
<p><strong>Tareq S. Hajjaj <br></strong>Tareq S. Hajjaj is a journalist
and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union. He studied English
Literature at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. He started his career in
journalism in 2015, working as a news writer and translator for the
local newspaper, Donia al-Watan. He has reported for <em>Elbadi</em>, <em>Middle East Eye</em>, and <em>Al Monitor</em>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/Tareqshajjaj">@Tareqshajjaj</a>.</p>
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