Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the move, saying it’s “a good thing.”
In a social media video, Netanyahu said Israel had “activated clans in Gaza which oppose Hamas,” and that it was done “under the advice of security elements.”
According to CNN, Former Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman criticised the plan, saying that Israel was distributing rifles to extremist groups in Gaza and describing the operation as “complete madness.”
“We’re talking about the equivalent of ISIS in Gaza,” Liberman said one day later on Israel’s Army Radio, adding that Israel is providing weapons to “crime families in Gaza on Netanyahu’s orders.”
“No one can guarantee that these weapons will not be directed towards Israel,” he said,After Liberman’s revelation, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying, “Israel is acting to defeat Hamas in various ways upon the recommendation of the heads of the security establishment.”Meanwhile, Hamas said the plan revealed “a grave and undeniable truth.”
In a statement, the militant group said: “the Israeli occupation army is arming criminal gangs in the Gaza Strip with the aim of creating a state of insecurity and social chaos.”
One group that has received weapons from Israel is the militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab, officials said.
Abu Shabab’s group controls some territory in eastern Rafah, and photos have surfaced showing him holding an AK-47 rifle with UN vehicles behind him.
Despite Abu Shabab’s denial of receiving Israeli support, Hamas has condemned him as a “traitor” and vowed to confront his group.
“We pledge before God to continue confronting the dens of that criminal and his gang, no matter the cost of the sacrifices we make,” Hamas stated.
Meanwhile, 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’s war goals include the complete disarmament of Hamas and the end of its ability to govern in the territory.
The arming of militias in Gaza appears to be the closest that Netanyahu has come to empowering any form of alternative rule.
