Israel is arming local militias in Gaza in an effort to counter Hamas in the besieged enclave, officials say, as opposition politicians warned that the move endangers national security. <\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the covert enterprise on Thursday, calling it \u201ca good thing.\u201d In a video posted on social media, Netanyahu said Israel had \u201cactivated clans in Gaza which oppose Hamas,\u201d and that it was done \u201cunder the advice of security elements.\u201d <\/p>\n
Former defense minister and Netanyahu rival Avigdor Liberman divulged the move on Israel\u2019s Ch. 12 News on Wednesday, saying that Israel was distributing rifles to extremist groups in Gaza and describing the operation as \u201ccomplete madness.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about the equivalent of ISIS in Gaza,\u201d Liberman said one day later on Israel\u2019s Army Radio, adding that Israel is providing weapons to \u201ccrime families in Gaza on Netanyahu\u2019s orders.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Hamas said the plan revealed \u201ca grave and undeniable truth.\u201d In a statement, the militant group said: \u201cThe Israeli occupation army is arming criminal gangs in the Gaza Strip with the aim of creating a state of insecurity and social chaos.\u201d <\/p>\n
One group that has received weapons from Israel is the militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab, officials said. Abu Shabab heads an armed group that controls some territory in eastern Rafah and he has posted photos of himself holding an AK-47 rifle with UN vehicles behind him. Though Abu Shabab has denied receiving weapons from Israel, Hamas has accused him of being a \u201ctraitor.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe pledge before God to continue confronting the dens of that criminal and his gang, no matter the cost of the sacrifices we make,\u201d Hamas said on Thursday. <\/p>\n
Opposition politicians ripped Netanyahu for the plan to arm militias and the secrecy around it, lambasting it as a continuation of the Israeli leader\u2019s decision to allow millions of dollars in cash to travel from Qatar to Gaza beginning in late 2018. They accused him of strengthening Hamas in the past as an alternative to the rival Palestinian Fatah faction, and now arming gangs as an alternative to Hamas. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Netanyahu finished handing over millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to supplying weapons to groups in Gaza affiliated with ISIS \u2013 all improvised, with no strategic planning, and all leading to more disasters,\u201d opposition leader Yair Lapid said on social media. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu has not laid out a plan for who will govern Gaza in the future and has hardly made clear any of his post-war intentions for the coastal enclave. Part of Israel\u2019s war goals include the complete disarmament of Hamas and the end of its ability to govern in the territory. <\/p>\n
The arming of militias in Gaza appears to be the closest that Netanyahu has come to empowering any form of alternate rule. <\/p>\n
Despite nearly 20 months of war, Israel has not been able to dislodge Hamas completely from large swaths of Gaza, and the militant group \u2013 classified as a terrorist organization in Israel, the United States, and the European Union \u2013 has clung to power. <\/p>\n
Yair Golan, head of the left-wing Democrats party, said in a post on social media: \u201cInstead of bringing about a deal, making arrangements with the moderate Sunni axis, and returning the hostages and security to Israeli citizens, he is creating a new ticking bomb in Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Israel is arming local militias in Gaza in an effort to counter Hamas in the besieged enclave, officials say, as opposition politicians warned that the move endangers national security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the covert enterprise on Thursday, calling it \u201ca good thing.\u201d In a video posted on social media, Netanyahu said Israel <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}