Sky News: Israel supports Gaza militias to oust Hamas photo

Israel is supporting four armed groups operating inside the Gaza Strip in a bid to overthrow Hamas and establish a new administration in the enclave, Sky News has reported.

The leader of one of these factions, Hossam al-Astal, said: “We are all for a ‘New Gaza.’ Soon we will gain full control over the Gaza Strip and unite under one roof.”

According to al-Astal, the groups operate from areas under Israeli control beyond the so-called “yellow line” — the demarcation marking the deployment limits of Israeli forces as defined by the ceasefire agreement. He emphasised that his faction receives supplies through the Kerem Shalom border crossing after coordination with the Israeli military.

However, while acknowledging logistical cooperation, al-Astal denied ever coordinating military operations with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). “I don’t control Israeli airstrikes,” he said. “The Israelis simply saw armed Hamas military groups and struck them.”

Sky News previously reported that Israeli aircraft had intervened in two battles involving Abu Shabab’s militia. When asked if these interventions were the result of coordination, Abu Shabab did not respond. Hamas, meanwhile, accused al-Astal’s group of direct military coordination with Israel after several of its fighters were killed when Israeli forces intervened during a clash between the two sides on 3 October.

Footage released by the IDF shows the strikes that took place that day.

Al-Astal, however, insists he has no control over Israeli actions and rejected accusations of collaboration. He recalled that in April, two months before founding his militia, his own tent was hit by an Israeli bomb that killed his 22-year-old daughter, Nihad, who was seven months pregnant.

“People accuse me of collaboration,” he said. “How can anyone speak about me like that? Were the Israelis ‘joking around’ with me with a missile?” He believes the target was a Hamas member living nearby. “If I listed every crime against children and women, the blame wouldn’t rest on Israel but on Hamas, which hid among the people.”

Support from outside powers

Multiple sources also told Sky News that the militias are receiving backing from external actors. The deputy leader of Abu Shabab’s militia, Ghassan al-Duhine, has twice been photographed next to a vehicle with a UAE-registered license plate.

When asked whether his group had the support of the United Arab Emirates, al-Astal smiled and replied, “God willing, in time everything will become clear. But yes, there are Arab countries that support our project.”

He confirmed that this initiative is known as “The New Gaza” — a project aimed at creating a new order in the territory “free from Hamas and terrorism.”

“Very soon, God willing, you will see this for yourselves,” al-Astal said. “We will become the new administration of Gaza. Our project is ‘The New Gaza’ — no war, at peace with everyone, no Hamas, no terrorism.”

Just two days after Sky News spoke with al-Astal, former US presidential adviser Jared Kushner used the same phrase, suggesting Gaza could be permanently divided along the yellow line.

“No reconstruction funds will be going into areas that Hamas still controls,” Kushner told reporters on Wednesday. “There are considerations happening now in the area that the IDF controls — as long as that can be secured — to start construction as a ‘New Gaza’ in order to give Palestinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs.”

By Tamilla Hasanova