Ghassan Al-Duhaini to replace Abu Shabab as Popular Forces leader in Gaza
The deputy for the slain Yasser Abu Shabab, Duhaini was documented walking among the militia’s operatives and boosting their morale after his predecessor’s death.
Ghassan Al-Duhaini, deputy official to the slain Popular Forces militia head Yasser Abu Shabab, has been appointed to lead the anti-Hamas armed group in Rafah in southern Gaza.
He was recently documented moving among the militia operatives and lifting the spirits of members after his predecessor’s death. Duhaini was also wounded in the attack that killed Shabab.
Shabab, 32, died on Thursday during a conflict between armed groups when he was wounded in critical condition. It was reported that he was not killed by Hamas fire but rather in the framework of an internal dispute.
According to security officials, Abu Shabab met his death in a mass brawl that broke out between several factions within the armed group over governance, Shabab’s leadership of the clan, and the division of areas within the territory where the group operates in the southern part of the Strip.
Defense establishment’s comments on Shabab’s death
The Israeli defense establishment acknowledged that the IDF evacuated Shabab to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, and he was pronounced dead upon entering the emergency room.
Gaza militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab with the backdrop of the Gaza Strip. (credit: SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT, Reuters/Ronen Zvulun, Ebrahim Hajjaj/File Photo)
In Israel’s defense establishment, the assessment is that Shabab’s death is a significant blow to Hamas. The IDF and the defense establishment are already required to find a way to bring Shabab’s group back toward unity and activity against the Hamas terror organization.
Until October 2023, Shabab was imprisoned by Hamas on theft and drug offenses, and his release came under the cover of an Israeli strike on the security facilities in the Strip at the start of the war. From that moment, his name surfaced as someone filling the security vacuum in eastern Rafah. Throughout the war, much was said about his activity against Hamas, including armed clashes across the Strip and the looting of aid trucks in order to undermine Hamas’s monopoly over goods in the territory.
