Overview

• Israel’s security cabinet and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved Shin Bet-led plans to arm Yasser Abu Shabab’s 100-strong Anti-Terror Service with Kalashnikov rifles seized from Hamas.
• Satellite imagery and eyewitness reports confirm that Abu Shabab’s fighters operate under direct IDF protection in eastern Rafah and southern Gaza.
• United Nations officials and local aid groups accuse the militia of intercepting convoys at Kerem Shalom, with some truckers shot, triggering a strike by the Private Transport Association.
• Abu Shabab’s own family publicly disowned him over his collaboration with Israeli forces, and opposition lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman alleges ties between the group and Islamic State extremists.
• Humanitarian experts warn that bolstering criminal gangs deepens Gaza’s governance vacuum, fragments Palestinian unity and undermines efforts to deliver aid.