Yasser Abu Shabab, the commander of the former looting gang known as Popular Forces, has reportedly been killed in the Gaza Strip following what sources described as a well-planned ambush carried out by resistance factions. According to Israeli army radio, Abu Shabab and a large number of his group’s members, along with senior commander Ghassan al Duhine, were targeted in the attack.
The Reuters news agency reported that Abu Shabab, described as the most prominent anti-Hamas clan leader in Gaza, later died from his wounds in a hospital in southern Israel, although the exact date of his death was not specified. Hamas declined to comment on the reports, while Israeli authorities did not immediately issue a statement.
Hamas had previously accused Abu Shabab of collaborating with Israel, allegations he had dend. His Bedouin militia had been involved in smuggling vehicles into Gaza with the assistance of the Israeli military and an Arab-Israeli car dealer.
Popular Forces had at times presented itself as a potential future authority in Gaza. In June, the group denied any intention to form a government, saying its focus was on providing security for aid convoys and Palestinians. However, Hassan Abu Shabab, a relative and childhood friend of Yasser Abu Shabab, spoke of ambitions to reform the school curriculum and potentially hold a referendum on normalising relations with Israel.
In October, he said the recruitment of new militiamen had increased the group’s size to around 3,000 fighters across Gaza. The militia’s headquarters was located in a small neighbourhood in southern Rafah, an area still held by Israeli forces, positioned along the main route used by aid trucks entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Aid officials have referred to this stretch as “Looters’ Alley”.
An internal United Nations report dated November 2024 identified Abu Shabab and his group as among the most influential actors behind the large-scale, systematic looting of humanitarian convoys in Gaza.
