Media outlets affiliated with Hamas’ military wing and the Hamas police’s Sachem unit claim that armed men appeared at the site of the breach to the aid center today, interposing themselves between the American aid company and the Palestinians. According to them, these were fighters from a new militia under the command of Yasser Abu Shabab from the Bedouin Tarabin clan. This may be the first confirmation of his group’s presence. An American contractor reportedly hired the fighters as auxiliary forces.

According to the same sources, the militia has about 150 armed men, most of whom are former members of the Palestinian Authority security forces.

They also claim that the militia “operates in coordination with Israel and the PA, patrols IDF presence areas in Rafah and transmits information about terrorist organization fighters.” Quote: “The role of the agents and traitors under the command of Yasser Abu Shabab in helping the occupation, with the support of Oslo and the Americans, is clear. They are traitors and thieves who profit from the Palestinian people for the sake of the interests of the occupation and its allies. May Allah take revenge on them.”

Sources from Gaza claim that Abu Shabab’s militia fighters are armed with Israeli weapons and wear Israeli helmets.

Other sources call these militants “double agents working against both Gaza residents and the occupation”: they allegedly stole humanitarian aid, killed drivers, sold aid at inflated prices, allied with smugglers, and also profited from deals with Egyptian intelligence to allow Gaza residents to leave through the Rafah checkpoint. According to sources, people paid money to cross the border, part of which went into the pockets of the militia.

Yasser Abu Shabab’s militia is not Hamas, Fatah, or the PA, although its fighters are former PA personnel. Abu Shabab himself is reported to have had ties to ISIS in the past and is now allied with Egyptian intelligence. The Tarabin tribe is the most influential in Sinai and the Negev.