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"Israeli Robin Hood" and "aid robber": The mysteries of the Bedouin armed by Israel against Hamas

2025-06-06 15:02:31Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"Israeli Robin Hood" and "aid robber": The mysteries of the
Members of the Abu Shabab gang in Gaza, captured in a video recently posted by the group on Facebook

His militia is mainly responsible for the truck attacks, but the Jewish state uses it to weaken Hamas.

He calls himself “the leader of the Palestinian popular forces.” To Hamas, which has long sought to eliminate him, he is “the Israeli Robin Hood,” a term the Islamist movement uses with all possible contempt. To food truck drivers, he is “the worst looter.” To Netanyahu, the most awkward ally.

So who is Yasser Abu Shabab?

Denied by his family for his collaboration with the Israeli army (which remained a secret for months), 32-year-old Abu Shabab is part of a powerful Bedouin clan of the Tarabin tribe, present in the Gaza Strip, the Negev and Sinai.

Despite having no ideological ties to ISIS, some of the Tarabins have worked with Islamic State fundamentalists in the smuggling network that has developed above and below the Egyptian border in the past.

"Israeli Robin Hood" and "aid robber": The mysteries of the
Yasser Abu Shabab

His reputation as a jihadist, whether real or imagined, and his raids on neighborhoods east of Rafah where he was born (his headquarters are in the village of Alshoka), make Abu Shabab a threat to Hamas. In fact, Hamas arrests him for theft, drug trafficking, and smuggling.

On October 7, Abu Shabab is in prison, from which he escapes after an Israeli airstrike. However, according to other versions, it is Hamas that releases him in the early stages of the war. What is certain is that, after his release, he returns to doing what he excels at: stealing.

"He is responsible for most of the attacks on our trucks," a manager of one of the main United Nations agencies involved in distributing humanitarian aid to Gaza tells Italy's La Repubblica.

The Abu Shabab militia consists of 100 or 300 men. The first reports that the clan's successor was organized date back to May 2024, when Netanyahu ordered the army to occupy Rafah.

The Abu Shabab militia has uniforms and rifles, carries a badge with the inscription "Anti-Terrorism Mechanism" and wears red vests to escort trucks from the Kerem Shalom crossing. Under the supervision of the Israeli army.

“In the name of God, the Merciful,” he is heard saying in a recently released audio message. “Our popular forces operate under full Palestinian cover. I tell the families living in eastern Rafah to go home. Medicine, food, adequate shelter and security are guaranteed. The popular forces were born to protect our people from the oppression and terror of the de facto government.”

Namely, Hamas, which accuses Abu Shabab of being a thief and speculator who resells humanitarian aid on the black market. The same accusation that the Bedouin criminal makes against Hamas.

Both lie, because both know that whoever controls the food controls Gaza. “Yes, I take something from the trucks with my relatives, but never food, tents or baby food,” Abu Shabab told the Washington Post last year, before his final expulsion from the clan elders for the shame of his connection to Israel. “He has dishonored the family.”

Following the revelation by former minister Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Defense sources confirm that they have armed the Abu Shabab militia with Kalashnikovs, rifles (in some photos they are holding M16s) and weapons stolen from Islamists “to strengthen the opposition to Hamas.” In the name of the ancient principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And yet, the Bedouin militia does not seem to have given up the habit of ambushing trucks. “I would not be surprised if I found out that Abu Shabab was behind the killing of our driver Mohammad Al-Assar, because he is a known gangster,” says Jihad Sleem, vice president of the truckers’ association who announced the attack after another deadly attack two days earlier.

"But let's remember the bitter historical precedents when we did business with dubious characters," warns Michael Milshtein, an Israeli analyst and expert on Hamas. "It happened that suddenly they rebelled, like the Phalangists."/ La Repubblica


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