Tareq S. Hajjaj
Mondoweiss / December 4, 2025
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of one of the largest gangs in Gaza accused of collaborating with the Israeli army during the genocide, has been reported dead, according to reports from Israeli media.
Abu Shabab, a known criminal and drug trafficker before the Israeli war on Gaza began in 2023, became an infamous figure over the past two years for his role in leading armed gangs accused of looting aid convoys meant for Gaza’s starving population, abducting doctors and other prominent figures in Gaza, and executing members of the resistance in Gaza. Abu Shabab’s so-called ‘Popular forces’ played a key role in the Israeli effort to foment social collapse in Gaza throughout the genocide.
Curiously, Abu Shabab was even pronounced dead inside an Israeli hospital, further illuminating his relationship with Israel’s security establishment.
According to journalists in Gaza, multiple scenarios speculating about the circumstances of Abu Shabab’s death are circulating, though none have any official confirmation. One narrative suggests a dispute erupted between Abu Shabab and his deputy in the militia, Ghassan Al-Dahani, which escalated and left both injured. Another narrative suggests that families living in proximity to Abu Shabab’s group had grown fed up with his harassment, especially his attempts to force them to join his militia. After they refused and he continued pressuring them, these families allegedly gathered and decided to pursue and eliminate him. A third narrative suggests that a group of Hamas members reached him, set up an ambush, and opened fire on him and several of his men. However, no single version has been officially confirmed, and these remain strictly as speculation.
Following the ceasefire that took effect in October, government security forces in Gaza launched a widespread campaign targeting rogue gangs and militias, like Abu Shabab’s ‘popular forces’, that were formed during the war. Several militias had emerged in northern Gaza, east of Gaza City, as well as in Rafah and Khan Younis. The Abu Shabab group was the largest in number and the most well-armed, according to information obtained by Mondoweiss from government sources in Gaza. The Interior Ministry in Gaza had vowed to find Abu Shabab and “eliminate him” due to the “threat he posed in recruiting collaborators for the Israeli army from within the Palestinian population.”
Last month, in a major escalation of Abu Shabab’s activity, videos circulated of Abu Shabab and members of his militia abducting Hamas members and interrogating them in recorded videos that they published on their Facebook page, claiming to be part of a “counterterrorism unit” eliminating Hamas members.
On Thursday, Abu Shabab’s tribe, which had previously disavowed him, issued a statement saying that his killing “at the hands of the resistance” marked the “end of a dark chapter that does not reflect the tribe’s history or its principles,” adding that Abu Shabab “betrayed his people and became involved with the occupation”.
While the statement claimed that the resistance was responsible for killing Abu Shabab, neither Hamas nor the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has issued any statement confirming or denying responsibility for his killing.
The news of Abu Shabab’s reported death spread across Gaza like wildfire, with many ordinary Gazans reacting to the news positively.
Siraj Muneer, a displaced man in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis who has no connection to Abu Shabab or armed groups in Gaza, told Mondoweiss that people are spreading the news with a sense that something good has happened. He notes that Abu Shabab’s name had long been associated with promoting collaboration with the Israeli army – a grave offense in Palestinian society and culture. Muneer said that he personally felt “relieved that those who promote the Israeli army and its massacres against the Palestinian people are being eliminated.”
“If the resistance truly killed him, then we salute the resistance. These militias are more dangerous to us than the occupation and the Israeli army. They are from among us, so we cannot distinguish them. They abduct women and hand Palestinians over to the Israeli army. They are more dangerous than the army. They are the ones who try to make the occupier’s crimes seem normal and collaboration acceptable. They are not one of us after their betrayal, and they deserve what they bring upon themselves,” Muneer added.
“Palestinians in Gaza never rejoice at the killing of another Palestinian, but there are those who worked hard to detach themselves from the Palestinian people and their unity, and collaborated with the enemy that kills and annihilates Palestinians for temporary gains,” Muneer said. “Truth remains, and falsehood fades, which is why this is one of the rare moments in which people express joy over the death of a Palestinian.”
“We hope that all those who became involved in collaboration with the Israeli army against the Palestinian people will repent, return to their community, and refrain from continuing down this path, as its end is inevitable and well-known — among Palestinians — the killing of collaborators.”
Tareq S. Hajjaj is the Gaza Correspondent for Mondoweiss and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union
