What is the Israeli strategy in Gaza?
By Robert Inlakesh | Al-Mayadeen | October 28, 2025
In order to understand the Israeli-US agenda underlying the so-called “peace plan” set forth by US President Donald Trump, it is important to examine the objectives of the Zionist regime and then assess how these aims might be realized. Such an analysis helps reveal what the future may hold and whether the fragile ceasefire is likely to endure.
On October 19, the Gaza ceasefire appeared to have collapsed after the Zionist regime launched over 100 airstrikes, dropping at least 153 tonnes of explosives across the besieged coastal enclave, and killing around 44 civilians. Even Israeli media outlets reported that the ceasefire had broken down and that the war had re-started, before the situation calmed down by the next day.
Initially, the Israeli establishment claimed that two of its soldiers had been killed by Palestinian fighters in an ambush involving RPGs and automatic weapons, asserting that its subsequent attacks were merely a response to this incident—one that Hamas categorically denied any involvement in.
Yet, it wasn’t long until American, Palestinian and even Israeli reporters began to reveal the truth. In reality, while Israeli soldiers, alongside settlers contracted for demolition work, were violating the ceasefire by destroying Palestinian infrastructure, they accidentally drove over an unexploded ordnance. The consistency of reports from multiple sources lent credibility to this account, yet the Zionist military quickly imposed a publication ban on the incident, before later partially admitting to what had truly occurred.
This meant that the Israelis had, in essence, killed their own soldiers by violating the ceasefire and sending their forces to destroy infrastructure within what was effectively an active minefield, then blaming the Palestinians as a pretext to kill more civilians. Up until that point, the Israelis had already committed at least 80 ceasefire violations and killed more than 100 innocent people.
From day one of the ceasefire, the Israelis had also adopted a strategy of outsourcing the Gaza front’s combat operations to three ISIS-linked proxy militias – each stationed in different areas behind the Israeli imposed ‘Yellow Line’ – instead of engaging Hamas directly. The Zionist regime began pursuing a policy of using these proxy forces to carry out assassinations and ambushes against prominent figures and members of Gaza’s security apparatus.
The Israeli strategy, backed by the United States – according to anonymous sources who spoke to Axios – is to begin using reconstruction funds, to build structures behind the Yellow Line, which represents around 54-58% of Gaza’s territory where the occupation refuses to withdraw and works alongside its proxies to control the enclave. At the same time, the Israelis sought to strangle the civilian population living in areas under the Hamas-led civil authority, while offering them the alternative of living under the joint Israeli-collaborator occupation.
This strategy has already begun to crumble, as many of the families which the Zionist Entity sought to co-opt have sided with the resistance and rejected the collaborators in the midst. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Resistance continues to pursue these collaborator death squads and prosecutes them for their various crimes, including acts like murder and aid theft.
Like other similar strategies proposed by the Israeli regime and greenlit by their subservient American backers, this one is likely to fail under pressure and does not make logical sense given the realities on the ground and the fact that the Zionist proxies have no popular support.
So, then, what do the US-Israeli alliance have in store? It is quite simple, they are seeking to achieve some of their goals under the guise of a ceasefire, which they only partially respect by allowing in limited aid supplies and killing less people than they did prior to the so-called “peace deal”.
Similarly, in Southern Lebanon, the Israelis hatched a scheme after the ceasefire was imposed to seize control of more territory than they managed to capture during the war, all while committing daily ceasefire violations. carefully calibrated to stop short of triggering a return to an all-out war.
If they fail to achieve their aims through limited military measures and aggressive maneuvers dressed up as diplomacy, they will resort to full-scale force, because “peace” is not an option.
In order to understand this line of thinking, you first must conclude that the Israelis have pursued their policies up until this point as a means of collapsing the regional resistance against them, eliminating each and every threat posed to their rule.
To the Zionist regime, there is a perceived imperative to produce an “answer to the Gaza question”, a formulation that, in their view, amounts to the elimination of the people of Gaza: an ethnic cleansing campaign and genocide accompanied by the destruction of the entire territory’s infrastructure. This is not only the objective of the Israeli leadership, but a project implicating Israeli society as a whole, a national project of elimination.
October 7, 2023, represented a major blow to the Zionist project, one that collapsed the illusion of its military superiority and shook its ideology to the core. So, it has since pursued a project to teach its adversaries a lesson and to destroy the ability of regional actors to resist them. Gaza is a statement, rise up against us, and we will pulverize you.
To a certain extent, this strategy has so far succeeded to deter any Arab population from rising up. Immediately after October 7, the Jordanians and Egyptians, for example, had started to join mass demonstrations, attempted to breach the border, and clashed with regime forces. Yet the daily scenes of devastation in Gaza, along with the propaganda pushed by the Arab Regimes, crushed their pride, determination, and willingness to continue resisting, at least for now.
The regional resistance, however, remained undeterred, which is why the US-Israeli alliance now seeks to destroy it, or at least to weaken it so severely that it no longer poses a significant threat.
If the Israelis experience another October 7-style military defeat that includes the penetration of its defensive lines, this will represent a decisive, even mortal, blow to the project, and the Zionist regime is well aware of that.
What occurred on October 7 irrevocably transformed the regime and set in motion a series of irreversible changes. Senior Zionist leaders now view current events in stark binary terms: either the re-birth of “Israel” or its gradual demise. If the former is achieved, the regime would secure de-facto control over the region and bury its security issues; if it fails to eliminate Gaza, to break the Lebanese resistance, and to sufficiently weaken Iran, it will be one step away from a crushing defeat.
In the Zionist regime’s thinking, now is a historic opportunity to exterminate all those who resist it, eliminate Gaza entirely, and impose uncontested dominance over the region. Although it has so far failed to achieve these goals, it perceives any inability to secure a “total defeat” as an existential threat to its own survival. Therefore, if “Israel” does not accomplish during the ceasefire what it set out to do, it is likely to pursue those objectives through renewed military action, with Lebanon and Iran expected to become the principal fronts in the future.
Israeli army turns Gaza border areas into a dumping ground for settlements’ waste
Palestinian Information Center – October 26, 2025
GAZA – Footage has shown Israeli trucks transporting construction debris from settlements adjacent to Gaza into the Strip through the Kissufim crossing, dumping it in areas destroyed by the genocide war.
The footage, published by Haaretz on Sunday, shows Israeli trucks leaving the settlements loaded with construction waste and heading into Gaza. The trucks advance roughly 200 to 300 meters inside the Strip and unload their cargo along roadsides, rather than at designated sites, before returning empty to the settlements.
On the Israeli side, bulldozers refill the trucks with more waste, which then follow the same route back into Gaza to dump their loads again.
According to the report, massive amounts of construction debris and waste have accumulated in the area, much of it left behind by the Israeli army during the war as it built dozens of bases and military posts near the border, along with infrastructure, fences, roads, and concrete barriers.
Haaretz quoted Israeli army officers as saying that field commanders had issued orders allowing trucks owned by private companies to enter Gaza and dump their waste “wherever they see fit.”
A soldier currently serving inside Gaza and living in a nearby kibbutz said, “Mountains of garbage will remain inside the Strip right in front of our homes for the rest of our lives. What’s the logic in dumping thousands of tons of waste just a few hundred meters from our houses?”
According to one source who asked his commanders why waste was being dumped inside Gaza in undesignated locations, the response he received was that “countries will soon enter Gaza to oversee reconstruction, and they will handle this debris.”
The Gaza Strip faces the largest construction and humanitarian disaster in modern history. Estimates indicate there are between 65 and 70 million tons of rubble and debris resulting from the genocidal war waged by Israel over the past two years, according to figures from Gaza’s Government Media Office.
This rubble includes the remains of thousands of homes, facilities, and vital infrastructure deliberately destroyed by the occupation army, turning the Strip into an environmentally and structurally devastated area. It has also severely hindered rescue operations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Efforts to remove the rubble face immense obstacles, as Israel continues to block the entry of heavy machinery and rescue equipment, in addition to the presence of around 20,000 unexploded ordnances, bombs and missiles dropped during the war.
The Government Media Office stresses that this reality compels the international community to shoulder its legal and humanitarian responsibilities by pressuring Israel to open the crossings and immediately begin clearing the debris, paving the way for Gaza’s reconstruction after the catastrophe that has befallen it.
How Israel Killed Its Own Soldiers, Blamed Hamas and Violated the Ceasefire again
By Robert Inlakesh – The Palestine Chronicle – October 21, 2025
After routinely violating the Gaza ceasefire on a daily basis since its implementation, killing dozens of civilians in the process, this Sunday, Israel decided to temporarily abandon the agreement altogether, before later deciding to re-implement it. Despite the entire incident being Israel’s design, the Western corporate media labeled the Israeli violations as a “test”.
This Sunday, reports suddenly emerged that a group of Israeli soldiers had been ambushed by Palestinian fighters in Rafah, located behind what is being called the “Yellow Line,” where the Israeli army is refusing to withdraw from. The incident almost immediately triggered Israel to begin launching a new wave of intense air raids across the besieged coastal enclave.
In total, it was declared that at least 100 airstrikes were committed against Gaza. Israel’s Walla News and others had reported on the “collapse” of the ceasefire at the time, claiming that the occupying military decided to attack tunnel infrastructure previously untouched throughout the two-year-long genocide.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on to boast about dropping “153 tons of bombs” on sites throughout Gaza, which had killed at least 44 civilians. He also announced the closure of all entry points to the besieged territory and total blocking of humanitarian aid, before suddenly reversing these measures. All of this supposedly in response to the deaths of two Israeli soldiers.
Yet, reports from on the ground suggesting a very different picture from what Israel has presented had emerged throughout the day on Sunday. Initially, Hamas had released a statement denying any involvement in the killing of the Israeli soldiers.
Then, a range of Israeli, Palestinian, and American journalists, all citing their own sources, began reporting that what had actually occurred was that the two Israeli soldiers who were killed had accidentally run over an unexploded ordnance. It was admitted that at least three other Israelis were injured in the incident, one whose condition was considered serious.
As of now, it is unclear whether the unexploded ordnance had been repurposed as an IED and previously left behind by Palestinian fighters, or if it was one of tens of thousands of such bombs that had failed to explode upon impact when it was initially dropped. On Israel’s part, its “military censor” has placed a gag order on reporting about the incident internally, only releasing the names of the two soldiers killed in the incident.
According to Palestinian reporter Younis Tirawi, the reason for such tight censorship over the incident was due to the remaining injured Israelis being non-military and, instead, civilian contractors stationed in the Israeli-controlled portion of Gaza in order to help carry out demolition work. The Israeli authorities, therefore, want to cover this up.
Tirawi’s assessment, based upon his own anonymous sources, would indeed align with the facts on the ground.
Although the issue has gone largely under-reported, the Israeli Defense Ministry has enlisted private contractors to aid in their demolition efforts in what was previously referred to as Israel’s Gaza buffer zone. Ads posted on Facebook had even advertised jobs to Israelis that pay up to $882 per day to drive bulldozers and aid in the demolition efforts. The Israeli military is also working alongside Israeli companies to hire their heavy excavation equipment.
Haaretz News previously reported that this new demolition industry costs at least 30 million dollars per month. In other words, and considering that some 60,000 businesses have closed, Israel’s tourism industry – especially in the north and south – has taken significant hits, the demolition industry is actually serving as a lucrative business for many Israelis.
Combine this with the evidence posted to social media by Israeli soldiers continuing to demolish remaining civilian infrastructure on their side of the Yellow Line, and it would make sense that civilian contractors are still being used to carry out demolition work. Evidently, this represents not only a violation of the ceasefire, of which the Gaza government’s media office has reported 80 so far, but also a clear issue in terms of the Israeli military actively paying its own people danger money to carry out such operations, putting their lives in danger.
Nevertheless, the Israeli narrative remains that Hamas was responsible for the incident and that they “responded”, despite Israeli media outlets admitting that Israel was the first to violate the ceasefire agreement. As for the claims of the Israeli military that it struck tunnel infrastructure that it had not previously targeted over the past two years, there is no evidence for this, and it appears unlikely, to say the least.
In addition to this, Israel’s Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, spoke to Channel 14 News in order to advocate for “opening the gates of hell” on Gaza after receiving the rest of their captives. This aligns with the rhetoric coming from various other officials who see the return of their prisoners from Gaza as a green light to strike the besieged coastal territory with more force than ever.
Meanwhile, the mainstream Western corporate media demonstrated again that it is nothing more than a contingent of stenographers for their wealthy Zionist funders and Israel’s foreign ministry. The Associated Press even published a story entitled “Israel strikes Gaza in first major test of ceasefire”.
While this may be simply dismissed after two years of similarly atrocious reports on the Gaza genocide, from outlets across the corporate media spectrum, it is important to continue highlighting the racist double standards employed. The Associated Press must be forced to answer for its dreadfully biased reporting.
Israeli soldiers should not have been demolishing Palestinian civilian infrastructure during a ceasefire. If they were not continuing to order their soldiers to carry out such missions and truly adhered to the ceasefire, two of their men would not have died. Then, knowing full well that Hamas had not ordered an attack, it proceeded to violate the ceasefire in a major way, which Israeli media interpreted as a return to war itself. This is not a “test”.
Such violations of the Gaza ceasefire should not come as any surprise. After all, Israel has committed over 5,000 violations of its Lebanon ceasefire agreement and began violating it from the first day it was adopted by the Lebanese side.
Now, nearly a year later, Israel is refusing to leave southern Lebanon, instead deciding to expand the zone it illegally occupies. In neighboring Syria, it also abandoned its previous ceasefire agreement and is currently continuing to occupy more territory there, too.
While both Palestinian and Israeli media have their evident biases – inherent in all media, as objectivity is not a possible standard – the Western corporate media is in a class of its own in terms of public deception.
These corporate media outlets do not represent a Palestinian or an Israeli perspective. They curate a fictional depiction of what is going on that is slanted to deliberately deceive Western audiences by publishing content tailor-made to convince them that Israel is correct.
These media outlets present Israel as both the eternal victim, while also being the hero. In this work of collective fiction, representing a parallel universe, this hero sometimes does wrong, but is always the authority, always deserves the benefit of the doubt and is never capable of being the instigator of war.
UN rapporteur releases latest report on Israeli genocide, recounting intl. complicity in stark detail
Press TV – October 22, 2025
The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories has issued her latest damning report on the Israeli regime’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, offering a strikingly detailed account of international complicity in Tel Aviv’s atrocities.
The advance version of the report, titled Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime, by Francesca Albanese, was released on Wednesday,
She argued that continued destruction of Palestinian life in the coastal sliver had been enabled through military, economic, diplomatic, and even so-called humanitarian channels provided by states that had consistently prioritized political and strategic interests over human rights.
Diplomatically, Western powers, led by the United States and the European Union, have consistently shielded the Israeli regime from accountability, she noted.
The UN Security Council’s resolutions demanding ceasefires have been vetoed or diluted, while the regime’s military barbarity has been framed as “legitimate self-defense,” the official said.
Military aid, Albanese added, has also been decisive in sustaining the genocide.
The US provides the regime with $3.3 billion annually, along with intelligence, weapons, and logistical support, she wrote. However, following the onset of the genocide in October 2023, the “aid” was boosted by hundreds of consignments of munitions, weapons, and military assets.
According to Albanese, Germany, the UK, India, Italy, France, Spain, and more have additionally contributed arms and dual-use technologies that have directly fueled military strikes in Gaza.
These transfers violate the Arms Trade Treaty given the regime’s ongoing occupation and assaults on civilians, she lamented.
Economic and trade networks had equally enabled the regime, the expert outlined, saying at least 45 active trade and cooperation agreements, including with the US, the EU, and the UAE, allow Tel Aviv to access dual-use and military equipment.
European research programs have also poured billions into Israeli institutions, often funding technology with direct military applications, the report outlined.
Despite the ongoing genocide, trade with the regime increased in 2024, with Germany (+$836 million), Poland (+$237 million), Greece (+$186 million), and even Arab states like the UAE (+$237 million) and Egypt (+$199 million) fueling the regime’s aggression.
Humanitarian aid, too, has been weaponized, Albanese decried.
Gaza’s blockade, intensified after October 2023, left 80 percent of the territory’s two-billion-plus population dependent on aid, yet access was restricted to just over 100 trucks daily by early 2025.
She also reminded that the regime and the US created the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a militarized aid mechanism that led to the deaths of more than 2,000 civilians at distribution points between March and July 2025.
Symbolic gestures from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Jordan, and the UK barely alleviated famine, effectively implicating them in the worsening humanitarian crisis, Albanese remarked.
“Legal obligations are clear,” she writes. “States must prevent further harm, suspend enabling support, prosecute perpetrators, and ensure reparations and reconstruction. Without this, international law is hollow, and Palestinians are left to suffer.”
The genocide has claimed the lives of more than 68,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
An agreement was reached between Gaza’s Hamas resistance movement and the regime earlier this month as part of a proposal by Donald Trump that the US president claims is aimed at ending the genocide.
Ever since, however, Israeli forces have recurrently violated the deal, bringing about continued losses of life, while only 15 percent of the aid trucks agreed to enter the territory have reached starving Palestinians.
Albanese said the proposal “conspicuously omits any requirement for ending the occupation or establishing accountability.”
“Instead, it imposes a temporary external governance structure over Gaza, an arrangement amounting to neo-colonial administration that further undermines Palestinian self-determination.”
From Syria to Gaza: Israel’s proxy playbook returns
By Robert Inlakesh | The Cradle | October 21, 2025
With the already violated ceasefire in place, and Israeli occupation forces implementing a phased withdrawal, Gaza remains under siege, this time through Tel Aviv’s use of armed collaborator militias.
Drawing on tactics refined in Syria, these death squads have been unleashed to assassinate resistance figures, sow chaos, and undermine what remains of the Hamas-led administration.
Three proxy groups backed by Tel Aviv have since escalated their military campaigns against Gaza’s security forces and society. These militias of collaborator death squads have been used to stir chaos on direct orders of the Israeli army, seeking to establish bases of control in the portions of the territory that Israel has yet to withdraw from.
Upon the cessation of hostilities between the Israeli military and Palestinian resistance factions, at least 7,000 security personnel affiliated with the Hamas-led civil administration took to the streets of Gaza to establish law and order. Yet, almost immediately, they were confronted with ambushes, and armed clashes broke out in a number of areas of the territory.
In particular, the armed clashes in northern Gaza have received the most attention in the media, with Israeli and a handful of Palestinian Authority (PA) aligned personalities attempting to sell the situation as a “civil war.”
Collaborator militias exploit the Gaza ceasefire
Amid the chaos, the son of senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim was shot in the head by proxy forces. Mohammed Imad Aqel, son of a prominent Qassam Brigades commander, was murdered by members of the Doghmush clan. And Saleh al-Jaafarawi, a prominent journalist, was kidnapped, tortured, and shot dead at point-blank range.
At the beginning of October, in Khan Yunis, the Majayda family reportedly collaborated with Hossam al-Astal under Israeli air cover, launching attacks on security positions – a key example of Tel Aviv’s use of clan structures to advance its proxy war strategy.
Israeli researcher Or Fialkov noted:
“The Majaydeh clan from Khan Yunis – which fought Hamas a week ago – announces it has disarmed. The clan, which received assistance from the Israeli army in airstrikes against Hamas members, said it has handed over its weapons to Hamas. Hamas is settling scores across the strip and showing everyone who is in charge.”
To counter the threat posed by these armed collaborators, Hamas formed two new specialized units. The first, Sahm (Arrow) Forces, is comprised of officers from the civil security services. The second, the Resistance Security Force (Amn al-Muqawamah), includes fighters from Hamas’s military wing, as well as those from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Fatah al-Intifada, and other factions.
A senior security source in northern Gaza tells The Cradle that a document containing a hit list was discovered during a raid on a collaborator’s hideout. Although the document itself could not be shared, the source claims it noted that Israel’s “goal is to create chaos, to carry out assassinations, allow for lawlessness, and to fight the resistance through its collaborators.”
This account was reinforced in a KAN News interview, in which the leader of one collaborator militia confirmed that the Israeli army is providing his forces with security support and authorization to operate beyond the so-called Yellow Line. Roughly 54–58 percent of Gaza is still under the occupation army’s control.
US advisors recently informed Axios that Washington is working on an Israeli-backed plan to create pathways for Palestinians opposed to Hamas to live outside of Israel’s Yellow Line. To this effect, the Israeli military is currently marking this line by installing cement blocks and security equipment to demarcate its boundaries.
According to Israel Hayom, the American-Israeli plan seeks to use Gaza reconstruction funds to begin rebuilding hospitals, schools, and homes inside the territory that is jointly controlled by the Israeli army and its ISIS-linked proxy groups.
Under this scheme, Palestinians will be presented with the choice to live under Hamas along the coast or inside the newly constructed areas. It appears as if a proposed multinational military force will also be used to help implement such a model.
Despite this, the collaborator groups currently operating there do not enjoy popular support, and Israel is continuing to demolish the remaining civilian infrastructure located there. Meanwhile, all the major families, segments of whom began fighting Gaza’s security forces, have issued statements aligning themselves with Hamas and against any collaborators in their midst.
The Ramallah-based PA has also expressed its interest in vying for power in the Gaza Strip, yet Israel has at least publicly rejected this idea over fears that this will put it in a stronger position to demand a Palestinian State. Nevertheless, the PA has been part of a propaganda campaign designed to delegitimize Hamas as a political entity in Gaza and accuses it of indiscriminately targeting its opponents.
Tel Aviv retools death squads as ‘Popular Forces’
Throughout the two-year Israeli war on Gaza, humanitarian aid convoys were routinely looted in the southern enclave, triggering food shortages and creating a booming black market. The looting initially involved armed clans and petty criminals who charged extortionate bribes for aid access. But following the 6 May invasion of Rafah, the phenomenon transformed into a more coordinated enterprise.
That evolution gave rise to the Abu Shabab militia, a gang led by convicted drug trafficker Yasser Abu Shabab, who has long-standing links to ISIS affiliates in Sinai. His fighters, many from the Bedouin Tarabin clan, have ties stretching from Israeli-occupied Bir al-Saba (Beersheba) to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
A Hamas official familiar with the file on drug trafficking tells The Cradle:
“These individuals were known to routinely cross into the Sinai and maintained close ties to extremists. These criminal elements were also tied to the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis group [ISIS in the Sinai] and later Wilayat Sinai that came after it. These people do not have a coherent ideology and will shift over time, they are criminals, which is why they are also involved in activities like drug smuggling, and their connections come through familial ties.”
Following the surface of footage of these militants driving around in SUVs bearing Sharjah license plates registered in the UAE, sources belonging to Al-Akhbar claimed that Emirati intelligence has been cooperating with these militia forces.
A month prior to the introduction of the Abu Shabab aid looting gang to the scene, Israel’s top human rights group B’Tselem had issued a report accusing Tel Aviv of “manufacturing famine” in the enclave. A later investigation conducted by Sky News revealed that while most Palestinians were suffering a severe food shortage, the Abu Shabab gangs were living a life of luxury, with an abundance of stolen aid, along with vehicles and weapons supplied by Israel.
This group, despite becoming infamous throughout Gaza for stealing aid from humanitarian organizations, demanding a $4,000 bribe fee for each truck, was soon to be destined for a task much more pernicious.
In November 2024, the Israelis saw that it was time to give their aid looting cadres a facelift, as the Washington Post interviewed Yasser Abu Shabab himself, who is portrayed as a criminal by necessity and claims that “Hamas has left us with nothing.”
Amid the January ceasefire, the gang resurfaced as the “Popular Forces,” now dressed in Israeli tactical gear and openly operating with occupation military backing.
The Wall Street Journal even published an op-ed supposedly authored by Abu Shabab titled “Gazans are finished with Hamas.” Local sources confirm to The Cradle that the militia leader is illiterate and could not have authored a piece in Arabic, let alone English.
By June, former Israeli minister Avigdor Lieberman publicly accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of backing ISIS-linked militias in Gaza. Netanyahu not only confirmed the collaboration – but defended it. Then, in September, Haaretz reported that Popular Forces militias were receiving direct orders from the Israeli army and Shin Bet.
Israel’s proxy model expands across Gaza’s clans
As the Israeli military was experiencing a manpower crisis, recently struggling to recruit 60,000 soldiers for operation “Gideon’s Chariots 2” to occupy Gaza City, it made the decision to expand this proxy militia strategy.
In August, Israel worked alongside Hossam al-Astal, a former member of the PA’s Preventive Security Forces (PSF), to form the “Counterterrorism Strike Force” (CSF) that would run operations in the Khan Yunis area of Gaza. Astal, according to two security sources speaking to The Cradle, had long been suspected of holding ties with the Israeli Shin Bet.
Alongside the CSF, new groups like the “People’s Army Northern Forces” (PANF) have emerged in Jabalia and Beit Lahia. Led by Ashraf Mansi, who had been openly praised by Abu Shabab. The PANF consists of drug dealers and ex-Jaish al-Islam fighters, some linked to ISIS. The group even held an armed parade after the ceasefire, before engaging in clashes with Gaza’s Radaa security unit, which captured several of its fighters.
In Gaza City, the Doghmush clan launched a violent campaign to assert control over parts of the north. It raided civilian homes, looted properties, and allegedly murdered prominent figures. After the killing of journalist Saleh al-Jaafarawi, Hamas cracked down, arresting dozens and killing up to 40 armed members of the clan.
The family has long developed a negative image throughout Gaza, due to actions committed by certain elements within it, dating back decades to before the Intifada, when individuals from the Doghmush family would steal cars from Israeli-held territory. The Mukhtar of the clan was assassinated by Israel back in 2023, and according to local reports, groups of men within the family have been arming themselves throughout the war.
Soon after tensions escalated, especially surrounding the murder of Jaafarawi and the clashes that ensued on Sunday, the Doghmush family released a statement disavowing collaborators and “transgressors,” reminding the public of how many members of the clan were killed by Israel. It is still unclear whether the militants from the Doghmush family were working alongside the PANF militia or were operating as a solo force motivated by control of territory.
However, the Doghmush clan represents a more complex case. While certain elements have openly collaborated with Israeli intelligence, others have refused such alliances. The clan is divided, with some fighting Hamas for over two decades, and others remaining within resistance ranks.
Reports have also linked segments of the clan to Dahlan networks and Emirati funding, alongside Salafi militant ties.
Salafist group Jaish al-Islam, once led by Mumtaz Doghmush, was responsible for the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Initially allied with Hamas, the group later turned against it, pledging allegiance to Al-Qaeda and even kidnapping two Fox News journalists.
Hamas has long battled Salafist militants inside Gaza, including Jund Allah and the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade. In 2009, it crushed Jund Allah in Rafah after the group attempted to declare an “Islamic emirate.” By 2015, the Omar Hadid Brigade was dismantled. In 2018, ISIS formally declared war on Hamas.
Today, Israel’s proxy fighters recycle the same Salafi justifications. Popular Forces fighter Ghassan Duhine, for instance, cited ISIS fatwas branding Hamas as apostates who deserve death.
But despite Israeli efforts to fragment Gaza’s internal cohesion, many families and clans have pushed back. The Majayda family has denounced collaborators, as have key members of the Tarabin clan.
“Israel hoped to install these agents to run concentration camps for Palestinians, like they planned in Rafah with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” a senior Hamas official tells The Cradle. “But our people can see through all of these conspiracies.”
While Tel Aviv pretends its military campaign is on pause, the facts on the ground reveal otherwise. Israel has outsourced the next phase of its war to collaborators, criminals, and extremists – executing its war objectives through mercenaries while claiming plausible deniability. It is a page taken straight from its playbook in Syria, now recycled in Gaza with deadly effect.
Over 20,000 Students Killed, 31,000 Injured Since October 7, 2023

IMEMC | October 21, 2025
The Palestinian Ministry of Education announced Tuesday that more than 20,000 students have been killed and over 31,000 injured since the onset of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and serious escalation in the occupied West Bank, which began on October 7, 2023.
According to the ministry’s statement:
- Student casualties:
- In Gaza, 19,910 students were killed and 30,097 injured.
- In the West Bank, 148 students were killed, 1,042 injured, and 846 detained.
- Educational staff:
- 1,037 teachers and administrators were killed.
- 4,740 were injured across both regions.
- Over 228 were detained in the West Bank.
- Destruction of educational infrastructure:
- 179 public schools in Gaza were completely destroyed.
- 63 university buildings were reduced to rubble.
- 118 public schools and more than 100 UNRWA-run schools were bombed or vandalized.
- 30 schools—along with their students and staff—were entirely erased from the educational registry.
- West Bank damage:
Israeli forces demolished Ameera Elementary School in Yatta (Hebron) and Aqaba Elementary School in Tubas. Eight universities and colleges were repeatedly raided and damaged.
The ministry emphasized that the scale of destruction has not only disrupted education but has also targeted the very foundations of Palestinian academic life.
On the twelfth day of the ceasefire following 735 days of genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis remains dire, Gaza faces dire humanitarian conditions amidst ongoing Israeli violations and limited amount of humanitarian aid.
On Sunday, Israeli forces launched a wave of airstrikes across Gaza, killing at least 44 Palestinians and wounding many more.
Despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces continue to enforce a “fire control zone” up to 1.5 kilometers inside Gaza, preventing displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes.
The situation remains volatile, and the ceasefire hangs by a thread. As international actors scramble to preserve it, the people of Gaza continue to suffer under the weight of destruction, displacement, and grief.
The overall toll of Israel’s genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, has now reached more than 68,159 Palestinians killed and 170,203 wounded, the vast majority of them children, women, and the elderly. These figures reflect the scale of devastation and the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
Investigation reveals Israeli commander behind killing of Palestinian child Hind Rajab, paramedics

The Cradle | October 21, 2025
A new Al Jazeera documentary released on 20 October has identified the Israeli soldiers and officers who were directly involved in the killing of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and her family last year, as well as the rescue workers who were dispatched to the scene.
The investigation reveals the involvement of the Israeli army’s 401st Brigade. This includes Lt. Col. Daniel Ela and field officer Maj. Shon Glass.
According to the report, Glass was the one who ordered Israeli troops to fire the tank shells that killed the Rajab family in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa. He also ordered the attack on the ambulance teams sent to the rescue.
The soldiers belong to a unit calling itself the “Vampire Empire.”
Evidence analyzed by Forensic Architecture, as well as satellite imagery, found that their tank was within around 400 meters of the car carrying Hind and her family. The evidence also ruled out any crossfire.
A Forensic Architecture investigation from last year confirmed the Israeli army’s responsibility for the massacre of the Rajab family, refuting Israel’s denial that its forces were in the area and at the time of the killings.
Hind and her relatives were killed on 29 January 2024 while fleeing their neighborhood in Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for the area. Their bodies were finally recovered 12 days later.
After the Israeli tank gunner killed Hind’s 15-year-old cousin Layan, Hind was the only person left alive in the car. PCRS dispatchers sent paramedics Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun in an ambulance to rescue her. When they reached the site of Hind’s car, they were immediately killed.
Over 330 bullets were fired at the car carrying the Palestinian family.
The Brussels-based Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), named after the six-year-old victim, was founded months later and launched a global effort to legally pursue Israeli soldiers involved in war crimes in Gaza.
HRF has announced submitting a full legal case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Glass, Ella, and dual Israeli-Argentinian citizen Itai Shukerkov, who took part in killing Hind.
Another 21 soldiers “who directly participated in or facilitated the attack” are also being pursued, HRF said.
“The Hind Rajab Foundation calls on the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC to … expand the investigation to include the Vampire Empire Company, the 52nd Armored Battalion, and the 401st Armored Brigade and issue arrest warrants for the 24 identified perpetrators,” HRF said.
Natacha Bracq, Head of Litigation at HRF, said the submission to the ICC “establishes a direct chain of command, operational control, and deliberate intent.”
The NGO also took part in the Al Jazeera documentary.
The new investigation confirms that Tel Aviv has launched an organized effort to smuggle wanted soldiers out of foreign countries via private planes and military bases, before they can face legal action.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has helped soldiers vacationing abroad escape legal action.
According to HRF, over 1,000 legal cases against Israeli soldiers and officers have been filed across the world.
Al Jazeera has also revealed a document containing a list of the names of nearly 30,000 Israeli Air Force pilots and personnel who took part in military operations during the genocide in Gaza.
The real ISIS

By Muhammad Jamil | MEMO | October 19, 2025
The people of Gaza Strip lived through two years of an unprecedented genocide in the history of warfare, leaving more than seventy thousand dead, tens of thousands more wounded and mutilated, and the territory itself reduced to rubble. Amid this devastation, a few conscienceless individuals emerged. They were collaborators who assisted the occupier in killing, looting, and abduction. They were also war profiteers whose crimes were no less vile, hoarding essential goods and extorting the starving with outrageous prices.
History, whether ancient or modern, shows that when wars end, the enemy swiftly abandons his agents to their fate. That is exactly what Israel did in the first minutes of the ceasefire, just as it did to the South Lebanon Army (LAHD) when it pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000.
There were, by all accounts, only a few hundred collaborators and profiteers. Despite the magnitude of their crimes, retribution in Gaza was limited, that after field trials, a handful of those directly implicated in killings were executed. There was no sweeping revenge, but rather patience and dignity, which prevailed over the pain.
This is not to justify summary executions but to explain the extraordinary circumstances of a shattered society emerging from unprecedented destruction, where emotions run high and restraint is hard to find. By comparison, the European purge after the Second World War, what the French called the “épuration sauvage “, saw thousands killed without trial. Women accused of “horizontal collaboration” with German soldiers had their heads shaved and were publicly humiliated.
Wars always rupture the social fabric, where the occupier targets the communal web to achieve military ends. Gaza is not unique in this; its unprecedented unity during the two years of genocide made it a particular target. Israel used every devious method to tear it apart, spreading rumours, forming gangs through bribery or intimidation, even calling entire families, clan elders and sheikhs to demand collaboration under threat of bombing their homes.
On 27 September 2025, for example, Israeli intelligence phoned members of the Bakr family in the Shati camp in western Gaza, promising safety if they would form a militia modelled on the Abu Shabab gang in Rafah. The family refused; at dawn their houses were struck, killing nine people, including women and children.
Western newspapers and bulletins seized on the single field executions and raids on collaborators to revive the narrative Israel launched at the start of its onslaught which claimed that “These are the ISIS-like extremists we warned you about; what happened proves our story.” In the midst of a humanitarian catastrophe, this single episode was what interested them. Rather than pushing to enter Gaza after two years of being barred and seeing the destruction with their own eyes, they returned to their usual role of hijacking the truth to smear the victims.
Their hypocrisy and obsession with demonising Gaza’s residents in order to portray the occupation and its collaborators as “innocents” blinded them from seeing the tonnes of explosives that turned Gaza to ash, to the tens of thousands killed and wounded, the displaced and the hungry. They focused on a single incident because it could be made to echo the videos of ISIS beheadings and executions in Iraq and Syria that once shocked the world.
The Arab normalisation platforms, newspapers, and TV channels, which from the very beginning promoted and supported the occupation’s narrative, were the most eager to portray the event as an “ISIS-like” act, fuelling the fire of sedition and inciting the population to internal conflict. What is striking is that these outlets hosted tribal leaders and elders from the Gaza Strip on their programs, assuming they would go along with their narrative that labeled the criminals as “opposition” and innocent civilians. Instead, those leaders shattered and refuted the narrative, explaining the danger of these gangs and the crimes they had committed.
They ignored the real ISIS-like elements within the occupation army who proudly filmed themselves blowing up whole residential blocks, while arresting hundreds and stuffing them into stadiums and open pits, then transferring them to prisons to disappear them forcibly. After some were released, especially following the recent agreement, these people told horrifying stories of torture, some leaving permanent disabilities and some dying in cold-blooded field executions. We saw the bodies handed over by the occupier showing signs of brutal torture, ropes tied around their necks, and in some cases their organs had been stolen.
The bitter truth is that we find ourselves forced to highlight certain scenes of the massacre to prove that these are the true ISIS, even their masters, in order to counter the false propaganda. It has become lodged in people’s minds that killing by slitting throats with a knife or shooting at point-blank range is what is called “cold-blooded” murder, an unforgivable crime. But what about killing by bombing for two years, collectively striking entire residential blocks so that women and children are killed, their bodies torn apart and burned? Is that “hot-blooded” killing? Is what matters the way of killing not the outcome?
Damn the propaganda that planted in the minds of the gullible the idea that one act is different from the other. Whoever is psychologically prepared to drop tons of bombs on civilians, killing women and children and destroying homes, schools and hospitals, is no different from someone who uses a knife or a rifle to kill. Both actions express the same criminal intent, equally willing to kill by bombing, shooting or slaughtering.
The real surprise came from Trump’s statements, which silenced everyone. He expressed his satisfaction with what had happened, saying that he was the one who had allowed it to confront “dangerous gangs,” adding that he “did not find it particularly troubling.” He further noted that the situation reminded him of what had happened in other countries, such as Venezuela, where the United States had dealt with Venezuelan gangs, some of whom were sent to America, in the same manner.
In all cases, field executions are unacceptable under any circumstances. Every accused person must be granted a fair trial in accordance with the requirements of the law, no matter how grave their offense. Emotions and anger must not take control when dealing with those who have harmed society, whether in times of peace or war.
Discipline and adherence to the rule of law are what distinguish law enforcement officers from criminals and present a bright image of society as civilized and cohesive, unshaken by the actions of such individuals.
Finally, as a tribute to the great sacrifices made by the Palestinian people throughout two years of extermination, we must avoid any actions that can be used to falsify reality, awareness or distort the truth. We want the story of sacrifice and heroism during the extermination to be told without any blemish in a manner that expresses the brutality of the occupation and of everyone who collaborated or conspired with it.
Netanyahu says Rafah crossing to remain closed until further notice
Press TV – October 18, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed “until further notice” in a clear violation of the recently brokered ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
In a statement released on Saturday, Netanyahu’s office emphasized that the reopening of the Rafah crossing is contingent upon Hamas fulfilling its obligations as per the ceasefire deal, including the return of all dead captives and the implementation of the agreed-upon framework.
Conversely, the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt has indicated that the Rafah border crossing will reopen on Monday, allowing people to return to Gaza.
However, the embassy noted that the crossing will continue to be closed for individuals seeking to leave the besieged territory.
Israel had sealed all border crossings, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid and further deepening Gaza’s already dire humanitarian crisis since March 2, when the regime violated a previous ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
A US-mediated ceasefire went into effect last week. Aid deliveries were expected to begin on October 12, once the Rafah crossing with Egypt reopens under the terms of the ceasefire.
Israel seized the opportunity on Tuesday to tighten its grip on Gaza by violating the terms of the ceasefire, using delays in the return of captive bodies as justification for keeping the Rafah crossing closed and halving the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged territory.
Hamas has already fulfilled its part by releasing all 20 remaining living Israeli captives and 11 dead Israeli captives.
The resistance group said it needs heavy machinery and excavating equipment to search for the remaining bodies under the rubble.
Hamas confirmed Saturday evening that it will hand over the remains of two more Israeli captives tonight under the ceasefire agreement.
New footage exposes Israeli support for anti-Hamas militias in Gaza: Report

Ashraf al-Mansi (c), the leader of the so-called People’s Army, an anti-resistance terrorist group operating in Gaza. (Photo via social media)
Press TV – October 18, 2025
Two new videos have revealed that the Israeli military is actively supporting anti-Hamas terrorist groups in Gaza with weapons and provisions, according to a report.
The videos, recorded earlier this month and authenticated by Sky News, capture a nighttime convoy of pickup trucks transporting supplies from the direction of an Israeli military base to militia-controlled areas in northern Gaza.
The footage places the convoy about 1.4 kilometers inside Israeli-controlled territory near the Erez border crossing, an area where, according to official data, no humanitarian aid has passed since February.
The vehicles, carrying fuel, water, and food, move through devastated streets before arriving at an abandoned school identified as the headquarters of the so-called People’s Army, led by Ashraf al-Mansi.
Al-Mansi recently released a video warning Hamas against entering areas under his control, saying his group is one of four anti-Hamas militias operating inside Gaza, all within zones still monitored by Israel.
Sky News had previously reported that Israel facilitated the supply of weapons, vehicles, cash, and food to another faction, the so-called Popular Forces, led by Yasser Abu Shabab in southern Gaza.
The new evidence strongly suggests that Israel is now extending the same support to northern factions, flagrantly undermining the ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas on October 9.
The two videos, uploaded by a member of al-Mansi’s group on October 9 and 11, show convoys following the same route from a location less than 400 meters from an Israeli military base.
Although the footage does not show the loading of supplies, several containers on the trucks display the SOS Energy logo, an Israeli fuel supplier.
Neither the Israeli military nor representatives of the so-called People’s Army responded to Sky News’ requests for comment.
Israel’s support for Gaza-based terrorist groups continues as Hamas strives to restore order in the region following the ceasefire.
On Thursday, the Israeli news outlet Mako reported that Hamas had seized 45 pickup trucks, large sums of cash, and hundreds of weapons from Israeli-backed terrorist militias, citing unnamed sources within the Israeli military.
No evacuation for Palestinian gangs collaborating with Israel in Gaza: Report
With a ceasefire in effect, ISIS-linked smuggler Yasser Abu Shabab and his militia face an uncertain future
The Cradle | October 9, 2025
Palestinian collaborator with Israel and Wall Street Journal columnist Yasser Abu Shabab and his “Popular Forces” will stay in Gaza following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, according to a report by Israel Hayom on 9 October.
The Hebrew news outlet noted that Abu Shabab’s militia is deployed in areas that will not be evacuated by the Israeli army in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, allowing the group to enjoy further Israeli protection, at least temporarily.
The Popular Forces established a base under Israeli guidance in the area east of the destroyed city of Rafah on the Gaza border with Egypt.
This area is far behind the “yellow line,” to which Israeli troops must withdraw, according to the map detailing US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan.
Abu Shabab’s men are also behind the “red line” of withdrawal, up to which an international force will allegedly be deployed. Areas occupied by the group in the destroyed cities of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, and eastern Khan Yunis, are also behind the yellow line.
In early 2024, as Israel was imposing its starvation siege on Gaza, Israeli intelligence armed and funded Abu Shabab’s militia, tasking them with attacking and looting convoys carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza, including from the UN.
Israeli officials then blamed the attacks and chaos on Hamas, using the excuse to seize control of aid distribution in Gaza via the deadly Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Abu Shabab was arrested by Hamas in 2015 and sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of drug trafficking and theft.
He escaped in October 2023 after Israeli airstrikes hit the prison where he was being held. Leaders of Abu Shabab’s Tarabin clan publicly disowned him and have called for his killing for collaborating with Israel.
Hossam al-Astal, the Popular Forces commander in eastern Khan Yunis, claimed the group would remain in Gaza, while Hamas would be forced to leave.
“The Hamas dogs will not be happy, we exist and they are (the ones) leaving,” Astal claimed.
On the other hand, a security source in the Ministry of Interior in Gaza told Quds Press on Thursday that members of Abu Shabab’s militia fear being prosecuted after the genocide ends.
The source said members of the group have recently begun communicating with several families and tribal leaders, in hopes of opening indirect channels with the Ministry of Interior to resolve their legal and tribal status and ensure they are not subject to prosecution.
The source explained that this communication took place in secrecy, via intermediaries from local and tribal leaders, who relayed messages between the police leadership in Gaza and the militia members who wished to settle their status.
A specific mechanism was agreed upon for them to surrender and stand trial, while ensuring the confidentiality of the proceedings, the source added.
Sources also revealed to Quds Press that Abu Shabab’s group had helped Israeli forces arrest Dr. Marwan al-Hams, the director general of field hospitals, from a medical facility in Rafah about two months ago.
The sources said that additional information regarding the militia’s crimes would be revealed “in the coming days.”
