Middle East

Media: Netanyahu arms Isis militia against Hamas in Gaza. Israeli attack on the southern outskirts of Beirut

The bodies of two Israeli hostages recovered. A new unrecognised militia in Syria claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israel

5 June 2025

Un uomo porta in braccio una bambina mentre i palestinesi evacuano i feriti dal luogo di un attacco aereo israeliano a Gaza City, secondo i medici, 5 giugno 2025. REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi Migliore qualità disponibile.

5' min read

Former Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman told Kan public radio on Thursday that Israel is supplying weapons to Palestinian militias affiliated with the Islamic State (Isis) in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli daily Haaretz. Benjamin Netanyahu's former ally said that just as the prime minister supported Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), he is now helping to establish a new armed force as a counterweight to Hamas in the Palestinian enclave. Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not deny the accusations and stated that 'Israel is working to defeat Hamas by various means, on the recommendation of all security officials'.

The group, sometimes described as a militia and sometimes as a criminal gang, is led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a member of a large clan in southern Gaza, writes the Times of Israel, pointing out that the military censors authorised the publication of the news. According to defence sources, the weapons supplied by Israel to the Abu Shabab gang also include some weapons seized by Israel from Hamas during the war. The militia operates in Rafah, in an area under Israeli military control. Last week, Hamas published a video showing it targeting members of the group. Abu Shabab - the Israeli website continues - claims to protect humanitarian aid convoys entering Gaza, while others accuse it of looting them.

Liberman's revelations provoked a reaction from Yair Lapid, leader of the Israeli opposition. "After Netanyahu stopped giving millions of dollars to Hamas, he switched to supplying weapons to organisations close to Isis in Gaza, all on the spur of the moment, without strategic planning, with the only result of causing more disasters," Lapid wrote on X . The Abu Shabab gang was filmed in recent days operating in an area near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, under Israeli military control. In the footage, posted online by leader Yasser Abu Shabab, members of the group are seen wearing military-style uniforms with the Palestinian flag and the words 'Counter-Terrorism Mechanism'.

Also worthy of note are the words of former Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, who when interviewed by The Atlantic stressed that the war in the Gaza Strip "is useless" and "is not achieving any results". "From Israel's point of view, it is a waste of time. What we are doing is a waste of lives, a waste of money, a waste of the future,' he told the American magazine.

Israeli attack on the southern outskirts of Beirut

Israeli forces began bombing the southern suburbs of Beirut, in Lebanon. Local media reported this. Earlier, the IDF had issued evacuation notices for four buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut, ahead of "air strikes against Hezbollah facilities" in the Lebanese capital. In a post on X, the army's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, published maps showing the location of the buildings. "You are near facilities belonging to Hezbollah," Adraee wrote, in the statement urging civilians to move at least 300 metres away from the buildings.

According to the army, the bombing is allegedly targeting underground sites where Air Force Unit 127 is running a drone production programme. In a statement, the IDF accused Hezbollah of producing thousands of drones 'with the guidance and funding of Iranian terrorists'.

Ghf: "Resumption of food distribution in the Strip"

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (Ghf), supported by Israel and the US, announced the resumption of food distribution in the Gaza Strip after a one-day halt following attacks on waiting Palestinians. "Ghf can confirm that today we were open for distribution" of food, the foundation told Afp, adding that it had delivered 8.4 million meals since 27 May, when its operations in the Palestinian enclave began.

Bodies of two Israeli hostages recovered

Israeli security forces have recovered the lifeless bodies of two hostages during a special operation in the Strip. This was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They were Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai, with dual Israeli and American citizenship; for US Secretary of State Marco Rubio their deaths demonstrate the 'persistent cruelty' of Hamas. The couple had been killed by Palestinian militiamen during the assault on the kibbutz of Nir Oz on 7 October 2023. Their deaths had been confirmed by the Israeli army in December of that year.

The bodies of the two hostages were recovered in the Khan Yunis area of the southern Gaza Strip. "Together with the entire people of Israel, my wife and I send our deepest condolences to the beloved families" of the victims, Netanyahu said. "Our hearts are saddened by this unbearable loss. May their memory be a blessing," he added. The Israeli PM then thanked the forces involved in finding the bodies of the two hostages. "We will not stop until all our hostages, both the living and the fallen, are brought home," Netanyahu promised. The couple's family stated that they "welcome the conclusion of the affair and their return to a dignified burial at home, in Israel," adding that they looked forward to the return of "all 12 hostages from Nir Oz and all 56 hostages in total.

Haaretz recalls that Gadi was 73 years old and Judy 70 years old when they were murdered on 7 October 2023. Judy managed to call a member of the kibbutz, ask for help and say that she had been hit in the arm and face, and that Gadi had been hit in the head. The couple leaves behind four children and grandchildren. Gadi was a musician, played the transverse flute, and worked as a cook in the kibbutz canteen and Judy was an English teacher and mindfulness instructor.

Israeli drone attack in Gaza City

An Israeli drone attack hit the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City in the north of the Strip. Al Jazeera writes that at least four people died in the raid, including three journalists. Among them were Ismail Badah and Sulaiman Haja who worked for the Palestine Today channel. According to the Times of Israel, the channel is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to the director of the facility, quoted by Al Jazeera, many people were injured in the attack, specifying that it was the eighth Israeli bombing of the facility since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in 2023.

At least 52 people died today in Israeli raids across Gaza. This was reported by Al Jazeera, citing medical sources, who said that 31 bodies arrived at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, another seven at the al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza city and another 14 at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city.

New Islamic militia claims rocket launch in Syria

Meanwhile, on the Israel-Syria front, a spokesman for the Islamic Resistance Front, a new, unrecognised militia in Syria, claimed responsibility for the rocket launch against Israel on Tuesday, promising that it was only the beginning of the group's fight against Israel. The Times of Israel reports. Along with the Islamic Resistance Front, a group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigade also claimed responsibility for the attack. Neither claim could be immediately verified. The spokesman, identified only as Abu Qasem, stated in a recording published by the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese broadcaster Al-Mayadeen that the rocket launch was a response to the 'massacres committed by Israel in Palestine, Israel's daily attacks in Syria, and the wave of normalisation between the current Syrian regime and Israel'.