Yasser Abu Shabab*
Yasser Abu Shabab (ياسر أبو شباب), born in 1990 in Rafah, was a gang leader and head of the Popular Forces, an Israeli-backed armed group and criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks. Some members of the Popular Forces have ties to the Islamic State group and previously attacked Israel.
Abu Shabab was killed in December 2025 while “attempting to resolve a[n internal] dispute”, according a Popular Forces spokesperson.
He came from the Bedouin Abu Shabab clan (which is part of the larger Tarabin tribe that stretches into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula) in southern Gaza. In November 2024, Yasser Abu Shabab’s Tarabin tribe publicly disavowed him due to his collaboration with Israel.
Abu Shabab is reported to have been previously jailed by Hamas for drug smuggling. His brother is said to have been killed by Hamas during a crackdown against the group’s attacks on UN aid convoys.