Report: Shin Bet tried to recruit clans in Gaza City to fight Hamas, but they refused and their homes were attacked

Shin Bet agents unsuccessfully attempted to recruit dignitaries from the Bakr and Doghmush clans in Gaza City to support Israel's efforts to divide the Strip into separate areas controlled by clans, tribes or armed groups. According to the report, the homes of these clans were attacked after they refused to cooperate. This was published Saturday night in the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, citing security officials and sources on the ground in Gaza City.

According to the report, the clans were offered Israeli support in exchange for fighting Hamas, as well as the free transfer of intelligence to Israel and assistance in implementing its political goals. This was meant to prevent the eventual withdrawal of Israeli military forces and to block the establishment of a future Palestinian government to govern the Gaza Strip.

The sources claimed that after the clans refused to cooperate with Shin Bet, Israel carried out a series of strikes on both inhabited and evacuated homes belonging to members of those clans and tribes. It was alleged, among other things, that 30 members of the Doghmush clan were killed in an Israeli strike in the Sabra neighborhood in southern Gaza City, and that 20 more clan members were still trapped under the rubble. Additionally, it was stated that early in the morning, Israel bombed a house belonging to the Bakr clan in the southern part of the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, resulting in six deaths and 11 injuries among clan members.

In the past, Israel has tried to strengthen factions in the Gaza Strip, including the possibility of arming them, but those efforts failed after Hamas killed those individuals. An Israeli source previously described the move as “a Shin Bet scheme.”

During the early months of the war, Israel also discussed the possibility of arming Gaza clans as part of a plan to establish “humanitarian bubbles” in the Strip – a form of alternative governance to Hamas, promoted at the time by then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

In June 2024, The Telegraph reported, citing a knowledgeable Israeli intelligence source, that Israel had attempted to encourage the Doghmush clan to take leadership from Hamas. However, the terror organization entered the clan’s compound, beheaded its leader, and the next day, all the clans publicly declared their support for Hamas.