Hamas has executed four men accused of looting aid trucks entering Gaza, sources familiar with the incident said Monday, as a powerful clan leader in southern Gaza challenged the group’s authority over the convoys.
The executions followed an Israeli airstrike last week that killed six security officials working to protect the aid deliveries, according to one source.
“These four criminals were involved in looting and the deaths of our forces tasked with securing aid,” the source said.
A statement from a group calling itself the “Palestinian Resistance” said seven other suspects were being sought.
Aid deliveries began trickling into Gaza last week after Israel lifted a blockade it had imposed in early March, which had left half a million people at risk of starvation, according to a global hunger monitor.
Aid organizations say looting has slowed deliveries but blame Israel’s blockade for the desperation fueling the thefts. Israel, meanwhile, has accused Hamas of stealing aid but has not provided evidence to support that claim since the blockade was eased.
Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 and has faced mounting dissent, including protests against its handling of the war and challenges from armed gangs accused of looting. In recent months, it has reportedly shot suspected looters in the legs in public.
In Rafah, under Israeli army control, clan leader Yasser Abu Shabab said he was forming a force to secure aid convoys and shared images online of armed men organizing the shipments. Hamas, which no longer operates in Rafah, has accused Abu Shabab of looting aid and collaborating with Israel — charges he denies.
On his Facebook page, Abu Shabab describes himself as a grassroots leader opposing corruption and protecting aid deliveries, not an alternative government.
A Hamas security official dismissed him as “a tool of the Israeli occupation, used to weaken the Palestinian front.”
A spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said it was not working with Abu Shabab and did not pay anyone to guard convoys.
“What we do is talk to communities, build trust, and press the authorities to open more routes and crossings,” the spokesperson said.