Haaretz: Israel arms drug dealers to commit ‘war crimes’ and loot homes in Gaza

The Israeli army is expanding its use of mercenaries, criminal gangs and drug dealers to commit “war crimes” on Israel’s behalf in Gaza, an investigation by the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz has revealed.

Based on testimony from Israeli soldiers, UN reports and satellite imagery, the investigation found that increasingly well-armed collaborator militias have expelled Palestinians from their homes and carried out operations across Gaza.

Israel has trained at least five militia groups, and potentially a sixth, operating from heavily fortified bases inside Israeli-occupied areas of the enclave.

One Israeli soldier described how the state, army and Shin Bet intelligence service send armed and “trained militias to commit war crimes, and I'm the one who has to protect them during their operations so they don't get hurt”.

The Israeli army has itself committed war crimes across Gaza.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

At least one militia armed and supported by Israel had links to the Islamic State group. Its leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, was killed by Hamas in December 2025.

Many Palestinians celebrated Abu Shabab’s death, while his own family had renounced him as a traitor for collaborating with Israel.

“But the militia project he came to symbolize continues to evolve and expand – particularly since the October 2025 ceasefire was announced,” Haaretz reported.

'They entered every structure, looted everything they could get their hands on, came out with piles of stuff – and then burned down the house'

– Unnamed Israeli soldier

Another militia leader, Shawqi Abu Nasira, openly acknowledged his collaboration with Israel in a video posted online.

“I made the decision to liberate the land from Hamas. If people say that makes me a collaborator, then I'm a collaborator.”

The vast majority of Palestinians view collaboration with Israel as treason and betrayal, regardless of their position on Hamas.

Israel has also built infrastructure for the gangs amid Gaza’s widespread destruction. Near a militia base in Shujaiya, Israeli forces levelled a large Palestinian cemetery and replaced it with an extensive training ground.

The relationship between the gangs and the Israeli military has become increasingly intertwined. Fighters roam freely around Israeli army outposts, according to soldiers who spoke to Haaretz.

“The gunmen stage displays of force, film them and upload the footage to their Facebook pages for propaganda and recruitment purposes,” the investigation said.

Israel supplies the gangs with weapons and provides artillery and drone support during their operations.

'Reminiscent of Sabra and Shatila '

The mercenaries also serve another purpose. They attack Palestinians struggling to survive Israel’s genocide, drive families from their homes, loot their belongings and burn their houses.

Israeli ministers have repeatedly called for making life in Gaza unbearable as part of efforts to ethnically cleanse the enclave and replace its Palestinian population with Jewish settlers.

In one account, Israeli soldiers said the mercenaries arrived in pickup trucks before “they just ran and shot at people”.

“They entered every structure, looted everything they could get their hands on, came out with piles of stuff – and then burned down the house," one unnamed Israeli soldier said.

Reports that Israel has used local gangs to outsource parts of its strategy to ethnically cleanse Gaza are not new. Their activities have been documented for more than a year.

The soldiers’ testimony, however, provides further evidence that the mercenaries now function as an “operational arm” of the Israeli army and Shin Bet.

Israel continues to arm criminal gangs while demanding that Hamas disarm and opposing the formation of any independent Palestinian security force in Gaza. The arrangement allows Israel to use the militias against anyone it labels a Hamas member while unleashing them against ordinary Palestinians.

Hamas sources told Haaretz that they would not surrender their “defensive weapons” while the militias remain armed and receive Israeli support, because the groups would seek to target them.

Haaretz said “alarm bells are ringing” that Israel may be creating the conditions for local “atrocities reminiscent of the Sabra and Shatila massacre”.

During the 1982 massacre, Israeli-allied Lebanese Phalangist forces slaughtered up to 3,500 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians as Israeli troops surrounded the Beirut refugee camps and oversaw the killing.