Sharing footage of the newest of the four groups, Hossam al-Astal, the leader of one of the four groups, told Sky News that the four militias were part of a coordinated effort to remove Hamas from leadership. Astal referred to the efforts as Project New Gaza, which he claimed militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab had also agreed to work on.
Abu Shabab told Army Radio in June that his militia had received no weapons from the IDF and denied receiving any backing from Israel, but insisted that his group was open to working with the Jewish state. The 50-year-old, a former member of the Palestinian Authority’s security service, also claimed that Ashraf al-Mansi, leader of the People’s Army Northern Forces, had agreed to work on Project New Gaza.
Sky News reported that Astal’s gang's headquarters were situated on the Yellow Line, only 700 meters from the nearest IDF outpost. Astal claimed that a coordinator for the IDF had reached an agreement with him to create a Green Zone, where no shelling or gunfire would take place. (Read More)
