Yasser Abu Shabab (Popular Forces)
The Popular Forces are a Palestinian armed group and criminal gang led by Yasser Abu Shabab, operating in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. The group, which is widely accused of looting UN aid trucks, receives Israeli protection and support, including weapons, to oppose Hamas.
Abu Shabab was killed in December 2025 while “attempting to resolve a[n internal] dispute”, according a Popular Forces spokesperson.
According to Israeli news reports, the group also receives salaries from the Palestinian Authority via a senior official from the General Intelligence Service, Baha al-Baalosha. The PA has officially denied this.
The Popular Forces has several hundred members, drawn primarily from the Abu Shabab clan. Some members of the Popular Forces have ties to the Islamic State group (ISIS) and previously attacked Israel.
Yasser Abu Shabab’s deputy, Ghassan al-Dahini, was allegedly a member of Jaysh al-Islam — a Salafi-jihadi group based in Gaza with ties to ISIS.
Another deputy, Issam Nabahin, was also a member of Jaysh al-Islam and reportedly fought with ISIS in the Sinai peninsula against the Egyptian military. Upon his return to Gaza, he was recorded firing rockets at Israel, before killing a Gazan policeman in 2023 while resisting arrest. Hamas convicted and sentenced him to death, but he escaped prison after 7 October 2023.