Gaza’s Anti-Hamas Militias Defy the Islamist Grip as a New Underground War Erupts

By: Fern Sidman

In the blackened fragments of Gaza’s southern cities — Rafah, Khan Younis, and beyond — a quiet but profound shift is unfolding. Beneath the visible wreckage of the Israel-Hamas war, clandestine militias once fragmented and isolated have begun to coalesce into a nascent force aimed squarely at the heart of Hamas’s rule. As The Algemeiner reported on Wednesday, these anti-Hamas factions are not merely surviving amid the chaos; they are now striking back with calculated precision, carving out pockets of defiance within territory long smothered by the Islamist organization’s iron grip.

This weekend marked the most daring development yet in this shadow war. The Popular Forces armed group, one of several emerging militias seeking to destabilize Hamas’s hold on the enclave, captured senior Hamas commander Adham al-Akar in Israeli-held Rafah. The operation, carried out under conditions of extreme secrecy, unveiled not only the growing operational capacity of these insurgents but also a newfound sense of unity among those who once lived in the margins of Gaza’s quasi-feudal warlordism.

In a video circulated on social media following the capture, Ghassan al-Duhaini, the charismatic and defiant leader of the Popular Forces, appears beside Akar — defiant, unmasked, and uncompromising. His threat to Hamas is both chilling and theatrically symbolic: the group’s fighters, he declared, would be “punished like the victims of the Spanish Inquisition.” Behind the bravado lies a deeper message — that the era of unchallenged Hamas dominance is beginning to fracture.

According to The Algemeiner report, after the operation concluded, Akar was handed over to Israeli authorities, an act that underscores the complex and ambiguous relationship these militias maintain with Israel’s military establishment. The transaction speaks to a delicate equilibrium: they operate in spaces protected — directly or indirectly — by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), yet their true loyalties lie not to any foreign power but to the preservation of their own survival and the potential rebirth of a Gaza disentangled from Hamas’s ideological stranglehold.

Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, detailed the implications of this evolving insurgency. “It’s only in the past few months that we’ve started to observe these militias actively carrying out attacks against Hamas,” Truzman told The Algemeiner. “We’re seeing increasing evidence that they are actively going after Hamas, targeting both members and senior leadership with some success.” His words mark a shift from what observers once considered scattered insurgent violence to something far more strategically coherent — perhaps even coordinated.

The Popular Forces are not alone. Across the wrecked expanse of southern Gaza, in Khan Younis and Rafah especially, other armed factions have begun to take shape. The Counterterrorism Strike Force, led by Hussam al-Astal, has emerged as another formidable player in this underground war. Last month, the group claimed responsibility for the killing of Mahmoud al-Astal, head of Khan Younis’s criminal police unit and a senior Hamas operative. The symbolism of that execution — one Astal striking down another — has not been lost on residents of Gaza, nor on the Hamas leadership that suddenly finds itself bleeding from within its own social fabric.

Shortly thereafter, the same militia claimed credit for a nighttime assault in Rafah’s Shaboura Camp, where two Hamas members were killed and another taken captive. These attacks, though localized, are eroding the psychological foundation upon which Hamas built its authority: the illusion of omnipotence inside Gaza’s borders. As The Algemeiner report emphasized, such developments point to the deepening cracks within Hamas’s internal security network, where even middle-ranking operatives increasingly fear they are being hunted.

Yet, while the militias’ growing audacity captures headlines, analysts like Truzman remain cautious about overestimating their long-term influence. “My concern is how they will do beyond their current areas of operation,” he told The Algemeiner. “So far, I haven’t seen any indication that these militias are entering Hamas-controlled territory. They are making progress, but will it be enough to bring down Hamas? Not in this way.” His skepticism stems from the militias’ reliance on external circumstances — namely, Israeli territorial control — to ensure their survival.

In this liminal space between uprising and dependency, the militias exist as both opportunists and disruptors, emboldened by the temporary geopolitical void created by war but perilously vulnerable to its end.

As Gaza inches toward what diplomats describe as the “second phase” of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan, this fragile arrangement faces its most severe test. The blueprint envisions a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from much of the territory — contingent, crucially, upon Hamas agreeing to disarm. This, however, is a condition that Hamas has never credibly entertained.

Truzman’s analysis, cited in The Algemeiner report, reflects this delicate balance. “In my opinion, these militias are able to survive because they operate under the IDF’s protection,” he explained. “At the end of the day, they are making progress, but to make a real impact against Hamas, they need more — more money, more weapons, and more fighters.” For now, the IDF’s residual presence acts as a buffer between the militias and Hamas’s vengeance. But should Israeli troops withdraw too quickly — replaced by the proposed multinational International Stabilization Force (ISF) — that dynamic could flip overnight.

The ISF, designed to maintain order in post-war Gaza and oversee disarmament, is unlikely to prioritize protection for these anti-Hamas groups. Without such protection, the militias risk swift eradication. “The situation will allow Hamas and its allies the freedom to operate in territory where they were previously restricted,” Truzman warned in comments to The Algemeiner. “This gives Hamas and other terror groups the advantage they need to go after these militias.”

What follows is a potential paradox: if Hamas refuses to disarm, Israeli forces will remain — inadvertently securing the environment in which these militias thrive. But if Hamas complies, even partially, and the ISF assumes control, the anti-Hamas insurgents could find themselves exposed to the very organization they were created to destroy.

Truzman himself expressed doubt over any credible scenario in which Hamas genuinely surrenders its weapons. “I don’t think Hamas will give up its arms in any meaningful way,” he told The Algemeiner. “If they don’t, the IDF could end up staying in their current positions, which would actually benefit these militias by giving them the cover they need to continue fighting Hamas.”

Sensing the ripples of rebellion, Hamas has increased its security protocols across the Gaza Strip. Intelligence monitors report that Hamas has issued warnings to its cadres to vary travel routes, avoid cell phone usage, and remain alert to potential tracking and ambushes. This climate of internal suspicion is symptomatic of a leadership in slow but visible decline — a movement reverting to the tactics of fear and surveillance that once sustained it in its own struggle against Fatah in the mid-2000s.

After the U.S.-backed ceasefire last year brought relative calm to the ravaged enclave, Hamas moved swiftly to reassert its rule, accusing scores of Palestinians of “collaboration with Israel” and “lawbreaking.” It unleashed a campaign of retribution marked by public executions, torture, and the confiscation of private arms. Social media clips — analyzed by observers and reported on by The Algemeiner — show masked Hamas gunmen conducting midnight raids, dragging accused “traitors” into the streets, and broadcasting forced confessions.

Ironically, these same images of terror and coercion have galvanized many Palestinian residents into supporting the nascent militias, viewing them not as Israeli proxies but as indigenous defense forces resisting a movement that long ago abandoned its own people. The specter of anti-Hamas sentiment, once confined to whispers, has become an unspoken reality coloring every street corner and refugee camp conversation from Rafah to Deir al-Balah.

The growing skirmishes between Hamas and its domestic adversaries now amount to a civil war in miniature — one not framed in conventional battle lines but in ambushes, assassinations, and clandestine messaging. Asharq Al-Awsat, as cited by The Algemeiner, has reported that these groups are refining their tactics, targeting individual Hamas officers and members of the al-Qassam Brigades near their homes. The precision and coordination of these operations suggest both insider knowledge and growing confidence.

Still, their future remains cloaked in uncertainty. Some regional policymakers have floated the possibility of integrating these groups into the planned International Stabilization Force as local partners — a move that could provide them with legitimacy, protection, and a measure of sustainability. But such a scenario is fraught with political risk: Hamas would perceive it as a direct affront, while international actors could balk at aligning with organizations that remain, in effect, unauthorized militias.

For now, the Popular Forces and the Counterterrorism Strike Force have declared a shared commitment “that the war on terror will continue.” The phrase, admittedly saturated with rhetorical irony — given the Palestinian context — nonetheless captures a pivotal evolution: a turning inward. Gaza’s struggle may no longer be defined solely by its confrontation with Israel, but by the emerging battle over who will define post-war governance, justice, and legitimacy in a traumatized society.

In this sense, the militias’ campaign against Hamas represents something far more profound than a tactical feud within Gaza’s terrorist ecosystem. It is the manifestation of profound exhaustion — the collective yearning of a population suffocated by decades of ideological control, corruption, and cycles of war. As The Algemeiner reported, the question is not merely whether these militias can topple Hamas, but whether they mark the first flicker of an alternative Palestinian political identity — one that rejects absolutism and begins, however fitfully, to imagine autonomy without tyranny.

Whether that flame endures, or is extinguished in the next Hamas crackdown, remains unknown. But for now, beneath the dust of Rafah’s ruins and the ever-watchful eyes of the IDF, a shadow revolution has begun — a rebellion unfolding in whispers and gunfire, in fleeting victories and unspeakable risks. In the darkness of Gaza’s fractured night, the ghosts in the rubble are no longer silent. They are answering violence with defiance, determined to reclaim what little sovereignty remains — even if only for a moment before the storm returns.