To return to Gaza, Palestinian refugees first have to face Israeli-backed militias

During the four weeks the Rafah crossing was open in February, a few Palestinians were able to return to Gaza. But before they were able to get home, they had to face another obstacle: Israeli-backed Palestinian militias.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing, the only point of circulation between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, was planned as part of the peace plan signed between Hamas and Israel in October 2025. On February 28, less than a month after it reopened, Israel announced that it would close again, in order to “protect the population”. The crossing reopens on Wednesday.

Read moreGazans face impossible wait at Rafah crossing to Egypt

‘They said they were Abu Shabab’s people’

The few Gazans who managed to return to Gaza during these first four weeks of reopening were subject to a series of checkpoints, searches and interrogations. 

Asma [not her real name] is a mother who travelled through the Rafah border crossing to get back to her children in Gaza. First, she said, she had to pass through Egyptian customs. Then, she said that she had to go through another security check, this one run by the Palestinian Authority, the internationally recognised government entity operating in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority officials work with members of a EU mission known as EUBAM (The European Union Border Assistance Mission).  At this point in the crossing, Asma was forced to leave behind many items, including toys and electronic objects for her children. 

Asma expected that she would then have to go through a security check run by the Israeli Army. Instead, however, she found herself amongst armed Palestinians, whose uniform she did not recognise. 

"We got into a bus and two Jeeps escorted us, one in front and one behind. 

When we stopped, there were a group of young people waiting for us. They introduced themselves as ‘Abu Shabab’s people’. They also said something about how they were fighting against terrorism. 

They made us get off the bus and searched it. Then, they searched us and our belongings. Then, they told the bus to leave without us.”

The Popular Forces, an anti-Hamas Palestinian militia group

“Abu Shabab’s people”, as Asma calls them, are part of a militia known as the Popular Forces or the "Anti-Terror Service". The people that Asma met identified themselves with the name of their former leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire on December 4, 2025. 

Fighters with the Popular Forces operate in Israel-controlled areas located behind the “yellow line”. This line, established in the peace plan, marks the territory still occupied by the Israeli Army. 

On this map, you can see the area defined by the yellow line. On one side of the yellow line is territory within Gaza still occupied by the Israeli Army (marked in yellow). The peace plan adopted on October 10, 2025, called for this line to be progressively moved back until Israeli ground forces left the territory, leaving it in the hands of international forces. Both Hamas and the Israeli army accuse one another of breaking the ceasefire linked to this plan. Israel continues to bomb areas outside of the yellow line. © France Medias Monde graphics studio

One of Abu Shabab’s close associates, Ghassan al-Duhaini, has been running the group since Abu Shabab’s death. Al-Duhaini is active on Facebook, where he regularly posts images of himself and his fighters hunting down men that he claims are members of Hamas. 

An armed group acting as customs officials

Members of the Popular Forces also post images of themselves handing out food to those who have recently returned to Gaza. 

In other images, the men from the Popular Forces act like customs officials: they can be seen checking passports, or explaining what objects are banned.  

Some of the images even show members of the Popular Forces inspecting the buses that carry people through the Rafah border crossing. In the videos, civilians interviewed by the militia members thank them for their help and are quick to say that their border experience went well. 

However, the narrative constructed through these propaganda photos and videos does not resemble the experience that Asma had during her border crossing. After she was searched by the Popular Forces, Asma says that she was handed over to Israeli soldiers. 

“An Israeli soldier came. He spoke to my mother, who was returning to Gaza with me, and called her by her first name. He told her to “come forward’ and then they took her. Shortly thereafter, they took me as well. 

They blindfolded me and tied my hands. Then, they interrogate you. They ask: ‘Why do you want to go back to Gaza? Why did you leave Gaza?’ They were saying, ‘Gaza is ours now.’

Shortly after that, they brought me to another tent, where they asked me political questions. I couldn’t respond to those because I don’t know anything.”

Asma said the soldiers threatened her, telling her that she might never see her children again. 

“They threatened to imprison me. They threatened my children. They told me that I’d never see my children again. 

After three hours of interrogations, insults, humiliation and mockery, the people from the United Nations came to get us. 

Thank god it ended ok and I was able to finally go and see my children again.”

The details that Asma shared, especially that there were Israeli soldiers in the tents, indicate that her interrogation probably took place in the Regavim complex, a checkpoint built by the Israeli army in the weeks leading up to the reopening of the Rafah crossing in February. The army has a clear purpose for the complex, which is located in the Gaza Strip about five kilometres from the border with Egypt: “reinforce security surveillance” in Gaza and "verify the identity of people entering”. 

Some of the videos posted on social media by the Popular Forces feature details that indicate that they were filmed at the Regavim checkpoint. That means that this Palestinian militia seems to be carrying out checks on returning Gazans in an Israeli-controlled zone. 

Details visible in videos of the Popular Forces interacting with returning Gazans (left) show that most of them were filmed at the Regavim checkpoint, an area under Israeli army control. In many of the videos, you can see a metallic building with a concrete base (marked in red) and a white prefabricated structure surrounded by green tarp (marked in blue). These structures are also visible in videos of the checkpoint posted online by the Israeli army (at right). © Observers

However, that’s not the only indication that the Popular Forces are being supported by the Israeli army and that they are directly cooperating with them. Some of the videos posted by the Popular Forces were filmed inside their main base located just a few hundred metres from the Regavim checkpoint. In these videos, you can see blocks of concrete, which were manufactured by the Israeli company Wolfman. This company also manufactures the concrete blocks used by the Israeli Army to build the yellow line in Gaza. 

In some of the videos posted by the Popular Forces (at left), you can see concrete blocks featuring a name in Hebrew and a logo (outlined in yellow). These were manufactured by the Israeli company Wolfman, which also supplies the Israeli army with the concrete blocks that it has used to demarcate the yellow line, which is supposed to mark the Israeli-occupied zone in Gaza (at right). © Observers

Videos posted by the Popular Forces also show them using brand-new pick-up trucks. They often mask the license plates of these vehicles in the videos they post. 

It turns out that these trucks actually have Israeli license plates. 

In some of the videos posted on social media by the Popular Forces, an attempt has been made to obscure the license plates on their pick-ups. This doesn’t always work. In this case, you can see the yellow background and the blue rectangle located on the left, which is characteristic of Israeli licence plates. The numbering system used also corresponds with the system used in Israel. © Tarek Abou Shabab / TikTok

Khalil Sayegh, a political analyst who is originally from Gaza, says that the anti-Hamas militias active in Gaza, especially the Popular Forces, receive support from the Israeli army. 

"I think that it’s beyond question that these groups are armed by Israel. The question is more whether they are also receiving training from Israel."

Militia member seen alongside EU mission

Having armed groups carry out security checks on people leaving and entering the Gaza Strip runs counter to the peace agreement signed last October by Israel and Hamas, overseen by US president Donald Trump. The peace plan outlined a "process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip”, building towards a political future where: "Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form.” 

A video identified by the FRANCE 24 Observers team shows a Popular Forces militia member counting passengers on a bus alongside a member of EUBAM, the European mission in Rafah.

EUBAM Rafah is there to “facilitate the traffic of a controlled number of passengers, and to monitor and support the Palestinian border personnel in carrying out operations at the Rafah Crossing Point, in line with the Gaza Peace Plan", according to a EUBAM press release. 

When shown this video, EUBAM maintained that they are not in direct contact with the militia. They also say that “the treatment of passengers at the crossing under European monitoring corresponds to international norms.” 

A source with knowledge of the operations in Rafah told our team that the video “seems to show a member of the EU mission who responded to a request from local authorities [...] on that day". They claim that since this incident, “procedures have been reconsidered". 

‘You don’t need to be a legal expert to say that these militias are illegal’

Khalil Sayegh says that fact that militias are playing a role in overseeing the return of people to Gaza is just one part of the current legal vacuum in the territory. 

"You don’t need to be a legal expert to say that these militias are illegal under international law. 

The sad reality is that the Gaza Strip is currently entirely run by forces who violate international law. That includes Hamas as well as the Israeli occupation, which is illegal under international law."

The analyst is also very sceptical about the ability of these armed groups to manage civilians and carry out security checks.

"We’ve seen these forces start operating behind the yellow line [Editor’s note: in the area controlled by Israel], by attacking, kidnapping and killing Hamas’s fighters. That’s all that they do. 

I doubt that these militias gain any actual military or security benefits when it comes to the inspection of people coming from Rafah. 

I think it’s more a message to Hamas: ‘We are here, we control this area.’ It’s also a message to the people that these forces are influential.”

Are the Popular Forces transitioning from a militia to a police force? 

An investigation published in February 2026 by the British daily The Telegraph concluded that some members of the Popular Forces and other militias could be tapped for Gaza’s new police force. This possibility has reportedly been supported by Donald Trump’s administration, but has been criticised by US army officials as well as some Western countries like the United Kingdom and France. 

In late February, the Popular Forces posted calls for applications on social media. Their aim, they said, was to motivate young Palestinians to “join the police force in our new Gaza". 

Neither the Popular Forces nor the Israeli authorities responded to our questions. 

This article has been translated by Brenna Daldorph from the original in French.