Netanyahu's statements came after Israeli media reports quoted defense sources as saying that Netanyahu had authorized the supply of weapons to a group in southern Gaza.
Many Israeli politicians accused Netanyahu of endangering Israel's security, and Israeli media warned of the possibility of "the accusations developing into dangerous new political pressures on Israel and undermining the home front."
“What’s wrong with this?” Netanyahu said in a short video clip he posted on Twitter, adding that this “only saves the lives of Israeli soldiers.”
What the Israeli Prime Minister referred to in the video clip were reports that Israel - with his direct authorization - was supplying weapons to a group in Gaza led by Yasser Abu Shabab and which identifies itself as the “Popular Forces.”
This group - which some see as a militia or criminal gang - presents itself as an opposition force to Hamas.
Israel says its goal is to protect trucks transporting aid to Gaza, but opponents say it is doing the opposite, accusing it of looting the trucks.
Israeli defense sources had previously confirmed the accuracy of opposition politician Avigdor Lieberman's accusations against the Israeli Prime Minister of providing weapons to "criminals," as he put it.
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According to the Israeli Kan channel, Lieberman, who heads the Yisrael Our Home party, accused Netanyahu of unilaterally approving the arming of the Abu Shabab clan.
“The Israeli government is arming a group of criminals and murderers linked to the Islamic State,” Lieberman said, adding: “As far as I know, this matter has not been approved by the Council of Ministers.”
Defense sources later confirmed that Israel was arming the Abu Shabab group – which operates in Rafah, in an area under Israeli military control – with Kalashnikov rifles, including some captured from Hamas.
For his part, Yasser Abu Shabab denied in an online clip that “categorically denied” that Israel had supplied his group with weapons, saying that “our weapons are simple and old, and we obtained them with the support of our people.”
The European Council said that Abu Shabab "was reported to have been previously imprisoned by Hamas on drug smuggling charges. His brother is said to have been killed by Hamas during a campaign against the group's attacks on UN aid convoys."
Israel always accuses Hamas of looting aid convoys in Gaza.
For its part, Hamas said, "Israel's goal is to create a state of security and societal chaos, and to market occupation projects to engineer starvation and the organized theft of humanitarian aid."
She added, "We in the Hamas movement affirm that this official recognition confirms what field events have revealed over the past months, of clear coordination between gangs of thieves and collaborators with the occupation and the enemy army itself, in plundering aid and creating humanitarian crises that increase the suffering of our besieged people."
While sources in the Hamas movement reported that the movement believes that Abu Shabab’s activities have become a problem. A press report in one of the Arab media indicated that the military wing of Hamas began carrying out assassinations of members of the clan.
Netanyahu's office said that Israel "is working to defeat Hamas by various means, based on the recommendations of all heads of the security services."
Meanwhile, Yair Golan, leader of the Democratic Bloc in the Knesset, harshly criticized Netanyahu's move.
He said in a post on the social networking site "X", "Netanyahu threatens Israeli national security. Instead of reaching an agreement, returning the hostages to their homes and providing security for Israeli citizens, he is creating a new time bomb in Gaza."
In turn, the Fatah movement attacked Yasser Abu Shabab and other “armed gang leaders” operating under “the cover of Israeli marches,” warning the Palestinians against engaging in “actions outside the traditions of the Palestinian people,” according to Fatah’s description.
Through the movement's spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Munther Al-Hayek, she called on families to prevent their children "from being drawn into and joining those groups that move within the box of spies." He considered that Israel's support for these groups comes "in light of its plans for the day after the war, and with the aim of spreading chaos and security chaos, and preventing the return of national authority to the Gaza Strip."
Al-Hayek explained that the Palestinian government “is the only body that should govern the Gaza Strip,” noting that there is Arab and Islamic support for that. He pointed out that the Hamas movement “has become weak in the Gaza Strip, and that it must agree to hand over the Strip to the National Authority.”
As for the Abu Shabab family, they announced their disavowal of Yasser and considered him “outside the family’s national and moral approach,” according to a statement circulated on social media.
It confirmed that reliable information revealed that Yasser Abu Shabab was involved in “suspicious practices” after claiming to work in securing humanitarian aid.
The family said that it "will not allow it to be a reason to tarnish the family's reputation and its honorable history," calling on "everyone who followed him or became involved in his security groups to disavow him immediately and separate from him publicly, before they face an unfortunate fate," according to the circulated statement.
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