JERUSALEM, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday confirmed that Israel has armed local groups in the Gaza Strip to counter Hamas.
He was responding to accusations made by opposition lawmaker and former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said Netanyahu had ordered arms transfers to "criminal gangs" in Gaza.
"We are talking about what is equivalent to the Islamic State in Gaza. No one guarantees that these weapons will not be directed at Israel. We have no means of monitoring or tracking," Lieberman told Israel's state-owned Kan Reshet Bet Radio.
In an initial response, Netanyahu's office neither fully confirmed nor denied the claims, saying that Israel is acting to defeat Hamas "in various ways upon the recommendation of the heads of the security establishment."
In a later video on his X account confirming the move, Netanyahu said that it was coordinated with security officials.
"On the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas," he said. "What's wrong with that? It's only a good thing. It only saves the lives of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers."
Israel's state-owned Kan TV news cited Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying that local "criminal gangs," rivals of Hamas, have been receiving from Israel Kalashnikov rifles. According to the report, the initiative was approved by Netanyahu and carried out in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security agency, without approval from the Security Cabinet.
The revelation comes as Gaza reels from 20 months of Israeli siege, airstrikes, and ground assaults that have left much of the enclave in ruins and widespread severe hunger. Key infrastructure, including hospitals, universities, electricity networks, and farmland, has been severely damaged or destroyed.
Israel has refused to discuss possible scenarios for governing Gaza after the war, with Netanyahu and his ministers vowing that the Palestinian Authority will not rule the enclave.
The overall death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 has climbed to 54,677, with 125,530 people injured, according to Gaza-based health authorities. ■
