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Israeli-backed gang leader in Gaza, Yasser Abu Shabab, is killed: Reports
Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a militia group that worked with Israel to counter Hamas and has been accused of looting humanitarian aid, has been killed, according to Israel’s Army Radio.
Abu Shabab led the gang that called itself the Popular Forces, gaining notoriety during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza when reports started coming out accusing his group of stealing the little humanitarian assistance entering the territory under the protection of the Israeli military.
Israel’s Channel 14 first reported his death on Thursday, without providing further details. Channel 12 said Abu Shabab was killed in clashes with “Gaza clans” and later pronounced dead at the Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/4/gaza-militia-leader-accused-of-collaborating-with-israel-killed-reports
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/middleeast/abu-shabab-killed-gaza-israeli-sources-intl
Israel also planned to use Abu Shabab’s organization, which he called the “Popular Forces,” to secure reconstruction projects inside Israeli-occupied Gaza under the next phase of the ceasefire deal. During the last several months of the war, Abu Shabab helped control the flow of aid from the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza.
Hamas, which had previously vowed to target Abu Shabab, did not comment on his death. A Hamas-affiliated group said on Telegram, “Like we told you, Israel will not protect you.” Pictures circulated on multiple Gaza messaging groups showed a number of Palestinians celebrating Abu Shabab’s death. One picture obtained by CNN shows Abu Shabab with a red “X” over his face and calls him a “pig.”
Abu Shabab was the leader of one of several loosely organized Palestinian gangs that Israel backs in Gaza, and its members largely stay within the Israeli-occupied part of the enclave. Abu Shabab’s group, which he claimed numbered in the hundreds, would carry out raids in Hamas-controlled territory before retreating quickly back to Israel’s protection, according to Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza expert with the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Questions remain around gang leader Abu Shabab’s death in Gaza
Yasser Abu Shabab has been known among Israeli military officials as the anti-Hamas militia leader. In the available news coming from the Israeli side, there isn’t any confirmation coming in from the official Facebook page of his group, no official comments from him or from his family.
But it does seem to be the case that he was killed, and there are different accounts of what really happened. Who was behind it, what really went on that led to his death, is still unclear.
But people here are reacting to what’s going on and a chief question is what the impact will be on the delivery of aid trucks. Over the course of the past months, Abu Shabab and his group were largely accused of looting many of these humanitarian aid trucks.
Killing of gang leader throws future of Israeli collaborators into question
Alignment with Israel in the middle of a genocide in Gaza was radioactive, and these armed groups were socially condemned in Palestinian society. There was some debate when the ceasefire agreement came into place in October what Israel should do with them – whether they should allow them into Israel to escape a backlash and Hamas hunting them down.
And the answer from the Israeli military establishment was “no, let them fend for themselves, we’re not going to defend them”. These groups will have to consider what they will do next, because it seems the killing of Abu Shabab was an internal matter. Right now, there’s debate in Israel over who could take his place, and whether there’s any utility in keeping these gangs funded and keeping them going under Israeli protection.
