Yasser Abu Shabab, Militant Leader Backed by Israel, Is Killed in Gaza, Official Says

Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a Palestinian militia backed by Israel, was killed on Thursday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, according to an Israeli security official.
The official, who shared sensitive details on the condition of anonymity, said he was killed in a clash in eastern Rafah.The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear.
Mr. Abu Shabab, a Bedouin man in his 30s, was at the center of an Israeli project in Gaza to build up militias that could undermine Hamas.
Israeli officials said Israel had provided arms to the Popular Forces, Mr. Abu Shabab’s militia, but the group refuted that.
In June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that the Israeli government “activated” clans in Gaza opposed to Hamas at the advice of security officials. “What’s bad about it?” he said. “It’s only good, and it only saves the lives of Israel Defense Force soldiers.”
Allegations that Mr. Abu Shabab stole scores of aid trucks earned him a notorious reputation among Palestinians.
In late 2024, Gazan transportation company owners, truck drivers and international humanitarian officials accused Mr. Abu Shabab of running a sophisticated looting operation.
Georgios Petropoulos, a senior United Nations official who was based in Gaza at the time, called him “the self-styled power broker of east Rafah.”
In an interview in November 2024, Mr. Abu Shabab, thin and lightly bearded, denied he had looted a large number of aid trucks. But conceded that his men — armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles — had raided half a dozen or so aid trucks since the start of the war.