Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country used armed gangs in Gaza to help fight Hamas, which killed at least 52 Palestinians after a new military strike in the surrounded Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu said the government had “activated” powerful local clans in the enclave at the advice of “security officials”, and his video statement was released to X a few hours before Thursday after former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused him of deploying the strategy.
The statement marks the government’s first public recognition that it is based on strong family support armed Palestinian group that has been accused of criminal attacks and stealing aid from trucks because hunger has stalked the entire territory due to Israel’s penalized blockade.
An Israeli official quoted by news agencies said Netanyahu mentioned a group that was the so-called mass force led by Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of the local clan of Rafa.
Last month, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on the group's activities - although referred to as "counter-terrorism services" in the report - saying that Gaza sources said it included about 100 armed personnel acting under the implicit approval of the Israeli military.
In recent weeks, the Abu Shabab Group announced online that its combatants are helping to protect supply transport at new U.S. and Israel-backed distribution centers run by the Shadowy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“The Israeli opposition claims that the Israeli government or the Israeli cabinet has no consultation,” Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said, Jordan’s capital Amman reported. "Netanyahu said these armed gangs... can basically help Israel defeat Hamas in Gaza."
“But it’s not going well within Israel, and people say these are armed criminal enterprises in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu made his statement on another deadly day in Gaza, where the military hit the target of the besieged coastal enclave.
The fatal incidents in the aid allocation site operated by the GHF have caused more than 100 bombings since last week, triggering widespread condemnation, with Israeli forces seeking aid from Palestinians since last week and four times last week.
Chris Gunness, a former spokesman for the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera that the action of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation turned Gaza into “Abattor of humanity.”
"Hundreds of civilians were surrounded by pens like animals, and were slaughtered like cows in the process," he said.
Amid growing international condemnation, GHF closed its operations all day on Wednesday and said it would reopen two aid allocation centers the next day, located in the Rafa region of southern Gaza. It did not say when aid will be restored.
At least 52 Palestinians were killed on Thursday, according to hospital sources who spoke with Al Jazeera. Sources said 31 corpses arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, and 21 were joined to Al-Ahli Arab and al-Shifa Hospitals in Gaza.
Israel killed four journalists in the attack on Al-Ahli Hospital itself, also known as Baptist Hospital in Gaza
Fadi al-Hindi, a local Gaza city, told Al Jazeera that he saw one of the strikes on Al-Nasser Street near Al-Shifa Hospital, witnessed the death scene after running outside his tent to examine his child.
"When I arrived, I saw a man breaking; he was riding his bike and the lower half of his body drove. Everyone on the street was injured and we started collecting the injured pieces."
At least three Palestinians were reportedly killed during a strike, including children.
Palestinian news agency WAFA also reported five deaths in the area around Khan Yunis, four west of Beit Lahiya in the north, one death south of Gaza city, and a child near Bureij in central Gaza.
The WAFA also reported that Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who tried to reach the aid center near Wadigasa.
Meanwhile, Hamas Chief Haril al-Hayya said in a pre-recorded speech that the group did not reject the proposal for a ceasefire from the Gaza, the special envoy of the U.S., and noted that it required some changes to ensure the war ended.
Al-Hayya added that Hamas is ready for further negotiations and communication with the mediator is underway. Israel broke out in March to restore the war in Gaza.