‘Losing bet’: Hebrew media reports failure of armed militias to challenge Hamas in Gaza

Despite months of attempts by Israel to support local armed groups in the Gaza Strip as an alternative to Hamas, growing Israeli media reports indicate that the experiment has failed to achieve its objectives, amid widespread public rejection of these groups and accusations that their members have committed abuses against civilians.

In this context, the Hebrew news website Zman Yisrael published a lengthy report concluding that more than 99 per cent of Gaza’s residents still live under Hamas rule, while the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to rely on armed militias that cooperate with the Israeli military despite their limited influence on the ground.

The report said these groups had failed to pose a genuine challenge to Hamas’s continued rule in the enclave. It added that their operational objectives remain vague and unclear even to observers closely following developments in Gaza.

According to the report, the practical impact of these militias is almost non-existent, apart from what it described as counterproductive outcomes that have harmed Israeli interests and weakened prospects of building trust between Gaza’s residents and those supporting the groups.

The website quoted residents from different parts of Gaza as saying they do not support the armed groups, arguing that they do not represent them or their national interests. Instead, they are widely viewed as tools linked to the Israeli project in the territory.