Illustrative image.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, published on May 30 an unusual video purporting to show an ambush targeting “undercover” Israeli troops in the area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The video shows a group of armed men in civilian clothing being blown up by an improvised explosive device planted by Hamas fighters.
Palestinian media reports speculated that the fighters seen in the footage were in fact a part of a local force commanded by Yasser Abu Shabab, a leader of a large clan in Rafah. Abu Shabab claims his fighters have been protecting aid convoys. Meanwhile, Hamas has accused him of looting the aid trucks and maintaining connections with Israeli intelligence.
Israel has not yet made any comment on the alleged links to Abu Shabab’s or the activities of his force in the southern part of the Strip.
In the last few months, undercover Israeli troops have reportedly taken part in a number of special operations deep inside Gaza.
On April 25, an Israeli officer who was serving in the ranks of the Border Police’s Yamas covert unit was killed along with a soldier in an attack in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood in the north of the Strip. Yamas uses Arab disguises to infiltrate and conduct operations in Arab territories.
Later on May 19, just a few days into Israel’s large-scale offensive, codenamed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” an undercover Israeli troops infiltrated the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and killed a senior commander of the al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
Photos posted to social networks at the time showed a wagon with a secret compartment that was reportedly used by the troops.
The morality of employing undercover units has been questioned many times since the start of the war in Gaza, especially that there were cases of Israeli troops disgusting as doctors and aid workers during some of their operations. Still, the Israeli military does not appears to be willing to abandon the practice.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
