On August 21, an armed group in the Gaza Strip calling itself the Counterterrorism Strike Force (CSF) declared its formation. The group is among a handful of anti-Hamas militias that are reportedly managed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet.
“In response to the catastrophic conditions endured by our people in the Gaza Strip, and in light of the ongoing rule of repression and terrorism practiced by Hamas, we announce the formation of the Counterterrorism Strike Force,”the group stated in a Facebook post.
The CSF, seemingly led by Husam al Astal, declared that its goals include the removal of Hamas from power, the protection of civilians, and achieving stability “as a first step toward restoring dignity to the people and building a free and just future.”
The group said that it operates “within a national framework coordinated with legitimate Palestinian entities” and is committed to upholding international humanitarian law. Notably, the CSF added that it has received funding from “honest national businessmen” and Palestinians both domestically and internationally.
The Telegram channel “Catch the Collaborator,” which is associated with Hamas’s Arrow Unit, published a warning against the CSF on September 17. The post accused Astal of working for the Palestinian Authority’s preventative security service and linked him to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. The channel also claimed that Astal is an associate of Yasir Abu Shabab, the leader of the Popular Forces, another anti-Hamas militia. These accusations from a known Hamas-affiliated channel may have unintentionally legitimized the CSF as a bona fide opposition group.
On September 17, Yaniv Kubovitch reported in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz that the Shin Bet and the IDF have managed some Gaza-based militias “to carry out military operations in exchange for pay and control over territory.” Notably, Kubovitch wrote that the militias were taking part in “substantial combat activities” and “mainly deployed in sensitive areas” of the Gaza Strip.
Some analysts argue that Israeli support for anti-Hamas militias in Gaza comes with possible negative consequences for the territory. Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian American who serves as the resident senior fellow and head of Realign for Palestine at the Atlantic Council, told FDD’s The Long War Journal that while Gazans must lead the struggle against Hamas’s violent rule, the proliferation of militias reportedly supported by the IDF poses serious risks to Gaza’s future. Alkhatib points to Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion and the Syrian Civil War as examples where armed rebels, once empowered, turned their weapons on one another.
“The IDF and the Israeli government are […] playing with fire if they pursue a policy of arming anti-Hamas activists without a clear overarching policy and umbrella that guides, unifies, and ultimately controls these efforts to reach viable transitional and day-after scenarios,” Alkhatib said.
Despite the growing number of anti-Hamas militias in Gaza, there is no clear evidence showing how effective they have been in countering the rule of the Islamist group, which, by current estimates, maintains 2,500 armed fighters in Gaza City alone.
