Who was Yasser Abu Shabab, Israel-backed militia leader killed in Gaza?

"The killing of Gaza militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab, confirmed by his Popular Forces group and by Israeli media, is the final chapter of a man who tried to present himself with Israeli support as an alternative to Hamas, but who was widely derided by Palestinians as a collaborator. In his early 30s and from southern Gaza's Bedouin Tarabin tribe, Abu Shabab was largely unknown in the Palestinian enclave until his emergence at the head of a militia last year."

"Initially called the Anti-Terror Service, by May this year it had popularised itself as the Popular Forces, a well-armed group of at least 100 fighters operating in Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza. The group operated somewhere between a criminal gang and an Israeli proxy force, but presented itself as a nationalist Palestinian group dedicated to fighting Hamas. That branding served a purpose for Israel, even if its end goal for the group was never clear, particularly once it became evident that the Popular Forces lacked any form of mass popular appeal."

"That was because, for many Palestinians, Abu Shabab was a criminal he had been imprisoned by Palestinian authorities in Gaza for a number of years on drug-related charges prior to escaping from jail in the early part of the war on Gaza. His subsequent alliance with Israel, as it committed a genocide in Gaza killing more than 70,120 people, was immediately disqualifying for most Palestinians including his own tribe, who said in a statement that his killing served as the end of a dark chapter that does not represent the history of the tribe."

Yasser Abu Shabab emerged last year as leader of a Gaza militia operating in Israeli-controlled areas, initially named the Anti-Terror Service and later the Popular Forces. The group numbered about 100 fighters and framed itself as nationalist and anti-Hamas while functioning between a criminal gang and an Israeli proxy. Abu Shabab, in his early 30s from the Bedouin Tarabin tribe, had a prior prison term on drug-related charges and escaped during the war. Many Palestinians viewed him as a collaborator; his alliance with Israel during intense fighting and high civilian casualties alienated his tribe and broader public support. Observers questioned his ideology and motives.

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