Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel had engaged in armed gangs in Gaza to aid Hamas. His claim comes as a result of a recent wave of military strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip that resulted in the deaths of at least 52 Palestinians.
In a video statement released to X on Thursday, former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman accused him of using the tactic, Netanyahu claimed the government had “activated” powerful local clans in the enclave on the advice of “security officials.”
The government’s first public acknowledgment that it had supported powerful families that were based on powerful families, accused by aid workers of carrying out illegal attacks and stealing aid from trucks as hunger encircles the entire territory as a punishing Israeli blockade.
According to an Israeli official cited by The Associated Press, Yasser Abu Shabab, a leader of the local clan, was one of the groups Netanyahu was referring to.
The organization’s activities were reported on by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz last month, despite the name “Anti-Terror Service” in the report, which claimed sources in Gaza claimed they were made up of roughly 100 armed men operating with the military’s helpless knowledge.
The Abu Shabab organization announced online in recent weeks that its fighters were assisting in the defense of supply deliveries to new, US- and Israeli-backed distribution centers run by the enigmatic Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
According to Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, a journalist in Amman, the Israeli opposition claims that there was no consultation between the Israeli government and the cabinet. According to Netanyahu, these armed bands “could essentially assist the Israelis in defeating Hamas in Gaza.”
“But it’s not going well in Israel, where people claim that these are Gaza Strip armed criminal enterprises.” That they shouldn’t be armed, and that these Israeli weapons are being used against them, she said.
Human abattoir
Netanyahu made his statement on yet another deadly day in Gaza, where the military has been pounding targets throughout the beleaguered coastal community where the population is on the verge of starvation.
Since last week, Israeli troops have opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid on four separate occasions, killing more than 100 and injuring many others at aid distribution sites run by the GHF.
Former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness claimed that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s operations had made the area a “human abattoir” due to the organization’s operations.
He claimed that hundreds of civilians are herded like animals into fenced-off pens while being slaughtered like cattle.
GHF temporarily suspended operations on Wednesday in response to growing international condemnation, and announced the following day that it would reopen two aid distribution centers in the southern Gazan Rafah region. It did not specify when the distribution of aid would resume.
According to hospital sources who spoke to Al Jazeera, at least 52 Palestinians were killed on Thursday. According to the sources, 21 bodies were taken to Gaza City’s al-Ahli Arab and al-Shifa hospitals, and 31 bodies were already arriving at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
In an attack on the al-Ahli Hospital itself, also known as the Baptist Hospital, in Gaza City, Israel killed four journalists.
After running outside his tent to check on his children, Gaza City resident Fadi al-Hindi reported to Al Jazeera that he had witnessed one of the bombings on al-Nasser Street, close to the al-Shifa Hospital, and had witnessed scenes of the death.
“When I arrived, I noticed a man who was in pieces, bicycle riding, and body parts missing. We began bringing the pieces of the injured to the streets, where everyone was, and he said.
During the strike, reportedly, at least three Palestinians were killed, including children.
Additionally, a child was hurt near Bureij in central Gaza while five people were reported missing in the areas around Khan Younis, four west of Beit Lahiya in the north, and one south of Gaza City, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians attempting to enter a hospital close to Wadi Gaza, according to Wafa.
In the interim, Hamas’ head Khalil al-Hayya has stated in a prerecorded speech that the organization had instead requested some modifications to put an end to the conflict as well as stating in a prerecorded speech that it had accepted a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that had been made by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Source: Aljazeera
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