Netanyahu shared through a social media video that Israel has “mobilized clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas,” based on recommendations from security advisors.
The militant group responded by claiming: “The Israeli occupying forces are supplying weapons to criminal groups in the Gaza Strip to foster instability and societal disruption.”
One group that has received weapons from Israel is the militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab, officials said.
Abu Shabab, leading an armed faction in eastern Rafah, shared images of himself with an AK-47, set against a backdrop of UN vehicles.
Though Abu Shabab has denied receiving weapons from Israel, Hamas has accused him of being a “traitor.”
“We pledge before God to continue confronting the dens of that criminal and his gang, no matter the cost of the sacrifices we make,” Hamas said on Thursday.
Opposition politicians ripped Netanyahu for the plan to arm militias and the secrecy around it, lambasting it as a continuation of the Israeli leader’s decision to allow millions of dollars in cash to travel from Qatar to Gaza beginning in late 2018.
They accused him of strengthening Hamas in the past as an alternative to the rival Palestinian Fatah faction, and now arming gangs as an alternative to Hamas.
“After Netanyahu finished handing over millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to supplying weapons to groups in Gaza affiliated with ISIS – all improvised, with no strategic planning, and all leading to more disasters,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said on social media.
Netanyahu has not laid out a plan for who will govern Gaza in the future and has hardly made clear any of his post-war intentions for the coastal enclave.
Part of Israel’s war goals include the complete disarmament of Hamas and the end of its ability to govern in the territory.
The arming of militias in Gaza appears to be the closest that Netanyahu has come to empowering any form of alternate rule.
Despite nearly 20 months of war, Israel has not been able to dislodge Hamas completely from large swaths of Gaza, and the militant group – classified as a terrorist organisation in Israel, the United States, and the European Union – has clung to power.
Yair Golan, head of the left-wing Democrats party, said in a post on social media: “Instead of bringing about a deal, making arrangements with the moderate Sunni axis, and returning the hostages and security to Israeli citizens, he is creating a new ticking bomb in Gaza.”
