In a village south of Khan Younis, emptied by months of fighting, a 50-year-old former Palestinian Authority officer is carving out what appears to be the latest attempt to pare back Hamas’s power in the Strip, establishing a small, armed enclave that promises an alternative to the terror group with the quiet support of Israel and the West.
Hossam al-Astal, a resident of Khan Younis, recently announced the formation of a militia he calls Strike Force Against Terror. From his base in Kizan al-Najjar — a depopulated village near Khan Younis — he is inviting displaced Gazans to live under his protection. He offers food, water, shelter, and freedom from Hamas, which has ruled the enclave for nearly two decades.
“Whoever lives under Hamas’s oppression come to us,” al-Astal told The Times of Israel, in a recent interview. “Dozens of families contact me every day.”
He says dozens of families are already living at his encampment, and plans are underway to build more tents to house the hundreds he says will soon arrive, claiming that dozens of families contact him daily. While many of Gaza’s nearly 2 million displaced residents are dealing with shortages of food, shelter, and other supplies, he says his group is receiving all of that from Israel, along with military equipment.
“In the coming days, we will bring in another 300–400 people,” he said. “We will conduct security checks to make sure they have no ties to Hamas.”
Al-Astal’s enclave appears to be the latest iteration of a little discussed but potentially significant phenomenon taking hold in areas of the Strip under Israeli control: the emergence of clan-based militias filling the vacuum left by Hamas’s retreat. With Israel reluctant to take civil control of Gaza and unenthused about allowing the Palestinian Authority to take the reins, the militia model may represent a potentially friendly alternative.
“Our message from Gaza to the people of Israel is that there are people in Gaza who want to live in peace,” al-Astal said. “We hope for lasting peace so the future will be better for both Israeli and Palestinian children.”
The fledgling group echoes the model of another militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a Bedouin commander who has been active for months in Rafah, south of Khan Younis on the Strip’s border with Egypt. Abu Shabab’s forces have drawn thousands of residents to an area under its control in eastern Rafah, where they run rudimentary schools, clinics, and public kitchens. Fighters there have also acknowledged receiving equipment from Israel.
A senior Abu Shabab lieutenant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed to The Times of Israel that the two groups are in contact, describing al-Astal’s force as part of the same “Popular Forces.”
The stated coordination with Israel, and the locations in which they operate, suggest the group’s activities are being carried out under Israeli auspices, though al-Astal’s claims could not be independently verified.
“We are all one,” the commander said. Together, the groups are seeking to create a protective “belt” of control through Khan Younis and Rafah, in coordination with Israel, he claimed.
“They help us expand. The goal is the same — that people live under our protection, in agreement with our neighbors,” the commander added, in reference to Israel.
Kizan al-Najjar, where al-Astal’s group is setting up shop, lies about a kilometer from al-Mawasi area, where Israel has sought to direct most displaced Gazans. It is unclear whether the area falls under evacuation orders or IDF military control, as is the case with most of the Strip today.
Nearly all of Gaza has been depopulated by Israel’s military campaign, which was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, in which thousands of terrorists massacred some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage.
Israel launched the war to recover the hostages and dismantle Hamas as an armed group able to exercise control over the Strip or pose a threat ever again. In August, even before Israel ordered all of Gaza City’s 1 million residents to leave the area, the United Nations estimated that nearly 87 percent of the enclave was under evacuation orders or Israeli military control.
In a video shared online, al-Astal showcased brightly lit buildings — an unusual sight in a territory where most power was cut by Israel in the days after Hamas’s attack. He claims his group uses solar panels and expects Israel to provide direct electricity and water.
He provided The Times of Israel with footage of flour and juice from Israeli brands, labeled in Hebrew, which he claimed to have received from Israel.
“All food and water come from Israel,” al-Astal told The Times of Israel.
Al-Astal has also posted images on Facebook of himself with armed men he describes as his fighters. Asked about the source of funding for their military equipment, al-Astal said it comes from multiple channels — “the United States, Europe, and Arab states I do not want to name.”
He added that individuals from the US and the European Union are speaking with him directly, claims that could not be verified.
In one photo, he is seen wearing a tactical vest bearing the logo of IMI Defense, an Israeli supplier of military gear to the Defense Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.
Nadav Zusman, deputy CEO of IMI Defense, told The Times of Israel the company was unhappy about where its equipment ended up, though it had little say over what Israel did with it.
“The image disturbed us greatly,” Zusman said. “To see military equipment ending up in such places, whether there is cooperation or not, is unacceptable to us. We have no control over how our gear is used once purchased by the institutions we work with — particularly when these are the security bodies of the State of Israel.”
Al-Astal insisted that his equipment comes from Israel, and cooperation went further as well.
“There is coordination between us and Israel, and sometimes the Israeli army is here, moving around,” he said.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment.
In June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that Israel was supporting clans opposed to Hamas, but he has remained silent on the issue since.
Al-Astal is no stranger to Gaza’s turbulent politics. He says he worked for years inside Israel before joining the Palestinian Authority’s Security Forces, which lost control of Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007.
He was later imprisoned multiple times by Hamas and sentenced to death for alleged ties to the 2018 assassination in Malaysia of Hamas operative Fadi al-Batsh — a killing widely attributed to Israel.
Hamas-linked social media accounts have circulated his photo in recent days, accusing him of collaboration with Israel and noting his arrests and death sentence.
“Each time they arrested me for something different: for corruption, for ties with Ramallah,” he said. “I opposed [Hamas] from the beginning.”
Despite the risks, al-Astal says Hamas is “very weak” and insists most Gazans do not want the Islamist group to return, but are cowed by fears of retaliation should Hamas reassert power.
“We are trying, through the media and by talking with people, to convince them that Hamas is finished and there will be no Hamas 2,” he said.
He claimed he had received messages of support from people around the Strip.
“More than 80% of residents do not want Hamas,” al-astal insisted “I call on everyone — anyone who believes in peace — to come to us. This is no secret.”