Anti-Hamas clan leader key to US peace plan killed in Gaza

 The most prominent militia leader opposing Hamas in Gaza has been killed, Israeli sources have said.

Yasser Abu Shabab led an armed gang in the southern Rafah area, providing what he described as a haven for Palestinians who wanted protection from the terror group.

It had been rumoured that he and other leaders of the so-called “clans” were being considered for a role in the post-war Gaza security set-up by senior White House figures.

Israeli defence sources said on Thursday that the 31-year-old was killed in an internal clash within his armed militia, rather than assassinated by Hamas.

He was taken to Soroka hospital in Beer Sheeba, but was later pronounced dead.

The revelation last May that Abu Shabab was co-operating with Israel against Hamas was deeply controversial within Gazan society.

A member of the Tanzim Bedouin tribe, he was accused of formerly being a drug dealer and having extensive involvement in organised crime, as well as looting aid convoys during the war.

However, the former Fatah member also had links with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and it had been reported that the organisation was assisting him in his efforts to resist Hamas, alongside Israel.

After he was exposed as working alongside Israel, Abu Shabab began giving interviews with international media arguing that he had created a new reality on the ground.

The militia leader even published a column in the Wall Street Journal.

Despite Hamas-affiliated social media accounts suggesting on Thursday that Abu Shabab had been assassinated by the group, well-connected Gazan journalists said the killing took place after a physical altercation with a fellow member of his militia escalated.

Ghassan al-Dahini, his deputy, is expected to take over.

Pictures emerged on Thursday purporting to show civilians in Gaza handing out sweets to celebrate Abu Shabab’s death.

The apparent murder takes place just weeks before it is expected that Israeli forces will begin preparing for the construction of the first “alternative safe neighbourhood”, a US scheme to tempt Gazans currently living under Hamas rule to come over to the IDF-controlled side of the yellow ceasefire line to live in new villages built of temporary accommodation.

Rumours that the militias would play a part in securing these areas came amid an apparent lack of progress in forming an international stabilisation force of foreign peacekeeping troops, which is mandated under the Trump peace plan and supporting UN resolution.

Mr Trump announced on Wednesday that his Gaza peace plan would soon move to its second phase. Israeli news website N12 said that it would be before Christmas.

On Thursday, Israel launched a fresh wave of air strikes in southern Lebanon, in what it said was part of its continued attempt to stop Hezbollah reforming.

The IDF took the relatively unusual step of issuing civilian evacuation warnings for the villages of Brashit and Majdal, before destroying a number of significant buildings.

Earlier, the IDF had warned residents of Jbaa and Mahrouna ahead of strikes.

On Thursday, the IDF also confirmed that it killed a Hamas battalion commander and his deputy as they tried to escape from a tunnel on Sunday.

Donald Trump said this week that phase two of the peace process would begin soon, but no signs of significant progress in how to disarm Hamas have emerged.