Egypt Daily News – As Israeli airstrikes continue to pound the Gaza Strip in an unrelenting military campaign, a second, largely overlooked war is unfolding within the devastated enclave: a violent power struggle between Palestinian clans, criminal gangs, and rival militias.
Armed clashes have erupted in recent weeks across several areas of Gaza, with tribal factions and former prisoners engaging in firefights over control of humanitarian aid routes, influence in local governance, and territory vacated by a weakening Hamas authority.
According to humanitarian workers and local residents, much of this violence is being driven by desperation, as aid convoys are looted and scarce resources become central to a brutal competition.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) now control large portions of Gaza, a situation that has allowed previously suppressed armed groups to reassert themselves in the power vacuum left behind by Hamas. Since the group seized control of Gaza in 2007, it had worked to marginalize rival militias, but more than 20 months of war have significantly eroded its dominance.
Some of these resurgent groups are believed to have been armed or facilitated by Israel. In a rare admission earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel has “activated” certain clans inside Gaza to undermine Hamas’ authority.
Although he stopped short of detailing how this support is provided, reports from aid workers and independent observers suggest at least one group Yasser Abu Shabab’s so-called Popular Forces, has received Israeli weapons to secure checkpoints run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli-approved aid organization.
Critics argue that this strategy has further destabilized Gaza’s already fragile social fabric, as the arming of local clans often empowers criminal elements with long-standing ties to smuggling networks and black-market economies.
“The fragmentation of authority is now so severe that even aid convoys can’t move safely,” said Georgios Petropoulos, a senior official with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), following a recent mission to Gaza. “It’s just gotten too big for humanitarians to solve.”
The consequences of this lawlessness have been devastating for aid operations. The United Nations confirmed that a significant portion of the 4,600 metric tonnes of wheat flour recently transported through the Kerem Shalom crossing—currently the only route allowed by Israel—was looted by armed groups or seized by starving civilians before it could reach designated distribution points.
In one alarming incident in November 2024, a 109-truck aid convoy operated by UN agencies was intercepted by armed gangs who forced drivers to redirect nearly 98 trucks to offloading sites controlled by local militias.
A report compiled by UN relief agencies in collaboration with international NGOs found that in October 2024 alone, approximately £7.5 million worth of food and supplies—about 25% of total aid that month—was lost due to looting or direct attacks on aid shipments.
The crisis has been compounded by an 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian deliveries between March and May of this year. Although Israel has since reopened limited access via Kerem Shalom, it has sharply reduced the volume of UN-managed aid entering the territory in favor of deliveries managed through the GHF. Critics say this redirection has created a parallel aid economy vulnerable to corruption and gang exploitation.
Clans and extended families in Gaza, often based on tribal affiliations, have historically held sway over local affairs. While some function as informal dispute-resolution bodies, others have morphed into heavily armed militias engaged in smuggling, extortion, and violent rivalries.
Their resurgence has been marked by brutal acts of retribution, including a high-profile incident in April in which members of the Abu Samra clan executed a Hamas police officer accused of killing a family member during an aid distribution event in central Gaza.
Earlier this month, fighting between Hamas and rival factions reportedly erupted near the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, further highlighting the growing breakdown of law and order in southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military operations show no sign of abating. On Monday, Israeli strikes reportedly killed at least 60 people across the enclave, marking one of the deadliest days in weeks. The assault coincided with high-level talks in Washington between Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close confidant of Netanyahu, and U.S. officials.
The meetings, spurred by a new push from U.S. President Donald Trump to secure a ceasefire and facilitate hostage releases, are part of a broader diplomatic effort to end the conflict.
Despite these efforts, the humanitarian outlook in Gaza remains dire. The United Nations estimates that over 80% of the territory is now either under Israeli military control or subject to evacuation orders. With most of the 2.3 million residents displaced and infrastructure in ruins, conditions have been described as “apocalyptic” by relief organizations.
As both international pressure and internal fragmentation mount, Gaza remains caught between relentless external bombardment and a spiraling internal collapse, a war within a war with no end in sight.
