Gaza Herald — As international bodies debate postwar governance for the Gaza Strip, a dangerous form of authority is taking shape on the ground: armed Palestinian proxies operating directly from sectors under Israeli military control.
These collaborator groups represent neither a legitimate political movement nor a genuine civilian administration. Yet their expanding presence raises a critical question: is the occupation merely employing opportunistic mercenaries, or is it engineering a permanent security apparatus to enforce its rule from within?
This phenomenon moved beyond covert speculation in June 2025, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly admitted that Israel had “activated” local Palestinian clans opposed to Hamas. An Israeli official subsequently named the “Popular Forces,” led by Yasser Abu Shabab in Rafah, as one of the primary factions receiving direct backing.
Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project (ACLED) shows that at least five such proxy groups now operate out of military buffer zones east of Gaza’s “Yellow Line.” Documenting over 40 violent clashes involving these factions since the October 2025 ceasefire, ACLED confirmed that Israeli forces supply them with weaponry, logistics, intelligence, tactical training, and drone air cover.
From Armed Proxies to Collaborative Security Forces
The most alarming aspect of this strategy is the administrative enforcement role these proxies perform on behalf of the occupation.
Israeli forces directly assigned the Popular Forces to monitor the Rafah border crossing, a vital lifeline for the entire population. By early 2026, Palestinians returning through Rafah reported being interrogated at checkpoints manned by Israeli-backed gunmen before being handed over to occupation troops for further detention.
This distinction is critical. An isolated faction engaging in internal violence is one thing; a proxy guarding transit corridors, operating checkpoints, and restricting civilian movement functions as a direct enforcement arm of the military occupation.
These proxies possess no political legitimacy, relying instead on tribal ties, coercion, and criminal activity. Yet their structural dependence is precisely what makes them valuable to Israeli planners: weak enforcers prevent the rise of a unified, sovereign Palestinian leadership.
This tactic draws on a long history of colonial counter-insurgency. Israeli authorities previously attempted to nurture local proxy networks, such as the “Village Leagues” in the West Bank during the 1970s and 1980s, to undermine the national liberation movement. Today, this model is deployed under far more destructive conditions across flattened urban centers.
Weaponizing Humanitarian Aid and Engineering Chaos
To entrench these proxies, the occupation has engineered a complete security vacuum by systematically targeting municipal civil defense. ACLED recorded at least 38 Israeli strikes against local police facilities and civil officers attempting to maintain public order between October 2025 and August 2026.
Dismantling civil law enforcement without allowing a sovereign alternative creates a chaotic vacuum filled by armed gangs. This dynamic transformed humanitarian aid into a primary battleground.
Before Israeli forces seized and closed the Rafah crossing during the 2024 offensive, civil police and community committees successfully secured incoming aid convoys. However, after Israeli forces destroyed these civilian security structures and rerouted aid through military corridors, organized looting surged inside Israeli-controlled zones.
Rather than restoring order, occupation forces handed control over aid routes to Abu Shabab’s militia. In a population facing systematic starvation, controlling food supply lines means controlling human survival, turning basic humanitarian relief into a tool of political coercion.
Indirect Control and the Sabotage of Palestinian Statehood
This strategy serves Israel’s broader ambition: establishing a fragmented, indirect model of permanent control. Under this arrangement, international donors absorb the financial cost of relief, local technocrats manage basic civil logistics, and Israeli-backed proxies enforce local security, all while the Israeli military retains supreme control over Gaza’s land, borders, and sky.
By propping up collaborator militias and exploiting social strain, the occupation seeks to ensure that a unified, sovereign Palestinian security authority can never take root.
The central challenge facing Gaza is therefore not merely rebuilding physical infrastructure, but resisting this engineered fragmentation. Rebuilding a free society requires a unified civilian administration capable of protecting its people, rather than a system where internal division becomes the mechanism of perpetual occupation. bab’s militia. In a population facing systematic starvation, controlling food supply lines means controlling human survival, turning basic humanitarian relief into a tool of political coercion.
Indirect Control and the Sabotage of Palestinian Statehood
This strategy serves Israel’s broader ambition: establishing a fragmented, indirect model of permanent control. Under this arrangement, international donors absorb the financial cost of relief, local technocrats manage basic civil logistics, and Israeli-backed proxies enforce local security, all while the Israeli military retains supreme control over Gaza’s land, borders, and sky.
By propping up collaborator militias and exploiting social strain, the occupation seeks to ensure that a unified, sovereign Palestinian security authority can never take root.
The central challenge facing Gaza is therefore not merely rebuilding physical infrastructure, but resisting this engineered fragmentation. Rebuilding a free society requires a unified civilian administration capable of protecting its people, rather than a system where internal division becomes the mechanism of perpetual occupation.
