Anti-Hamas Militias Step Up Attacks Across Gaza, Targeting Terror Leaders and Expanding Operations

Anti-Hamas militias across Gaza appear to be taking concrete, coordinated steps to disrupt the ruling terrorist group, carrying out targeted attacks and expanding their operations in a bid to weaken Hamas’s hold on the territory.

This past weekend, the Popular Forces armed group captured Hamas commander Adham al-Akar in Israeli-held Rafah, in southern Gaza, as militia forces ramp up efforts to curb the Islamist group’s influence and prevent it from regaining control in the war-torn enclave.

In a social media video released after the operation, militia leader Ghassan al-Duhaini is seen with Akar, sending a warning to the Palestinian terrorist group that its fighters will be “punished like the victims of the Spanish Inquisition.”

Following a successful operation in southern Gaza, the Popular Forces handed Akar over to Israeli authorities, the Israeli broadcaster Kan News reported.

According to Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based think tank, this latest development adds to growing evidence that militia forces are carrying out offensive operations against Hamas while seeking to expand their influence in the territory.

“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.”

Last month, Hussam al-Astal, leader of the Counterterrorism Strike Force – another prominent anti-Hamas militia based in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza – claimed responsibility for killing Mahmoud al-Astal, head of the city’s criminal police unit and a senior Hamas member.

The group also took responsibility for an offensive operation in the Abu al-Saber area of Shaboura Camp in Rafah, which left two Hamas members dead and a third in custody.

Even with notable successes against the Palestinian terrorist group, Truzman warned that these militia forces could face significant strategic challenges in the near future.

“My concern is how they will do beyond their current areas of operation. So far, I haven’t seen any indication that these militias are entering Hamas-controlled territory,” Truzman told The Algemeiner.

“At the end of the day, they are making progress, but will it be enough to bring down Hamas? Not in this way,” he continued. “They need much more support — money, weapons, and fighters — to make a real impact against Hamas. I’m skeptical, but I do see that they are making progress.”

With the region preparing to implement the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will be expected to withdraw slowly from its current positions if Hamas fulfills its obligations to disarm — a step the terrorist group has repeatedly refused to take.

Truzman argued that such Israeli pullbacks would leave anti-Hamas militias — currently operating in Israeli-controlled areas — at a strategic disadvantage.

“In my opinion, these militias are able to survive because they operate under the IDF’s protection, either directly or indirectly,” Truzman told The Algemeiner.

Under Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, a multinational peacekeeping force — the International Stabilization Force (ISF) — is supposed to oversee security in Gaza and replace the IDF’s current role once it forms. However, Truzman warned that this force will not be focused on supporting the anti-Hamas militias, ultimately undermining their position and leaving them more vulnerable to the terrorist group’s violence.

“The situation will allow Hamas and its allies the freedom to operate in territory where they were previously restricted by the ceasefire agreement and the presence of the IDF,” Truzman said.

“This gives Hamas and other terror groups the advantage they need to go after these militias,” he continued.

However, the analyst also expressed skepticism about how the Israel-Hamas ceasefire will play out, noting that much depends on Hamas’s disarmament, which is crucial for the militias and their protection against attacks.

“I don’t think Hamas will give up its arms in any meaningful way,” Truzman told The Algemeiner.

“And 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,” he added.

Some experts have even suggested the possibility of these groups joining the ISF in a post-war Gaza scenario, integrating them into the force and potentially giving them the protection they need against Hamas and its brutal crackdown on dissent.

Even with an uncertain future, anti-Hamas militias across the enclave have recently intensified their offensive operations, shifting their approach with new tactics to fight the Islamist group, including targeting officers in Hamas’s security services and members of its armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, near their homes, according to a report by Saudi outlet Asharq Al-Awsat.

In response, Hamas has reportedly increased alert levels and tightened personal security, warning members to remain vigilant, vary their routes, minimize phone use to avoid tracking, and be on the lookout for potential surveillance.

Shortly after the US-backed ceasefire to halt fighting in Gaza took effect last year, Hamas moved to reassert control over the war-torn enclave and consolidate its weakened position by targeting Palestinians who it labeled as “lawbreakers and collaborators with Israel.”

Since then, Hamas’s bloody crackdown has escalated dramatically, sparking widespread clashes and violence as the group moves to seize weapons and eliminate any opposition.

Social media videos widely circulated online have shown Hamas members brutally beating Palestinians and carrying out public executions of alleged collaborators and rival militia members.

As they continue to come under attack, both the Popular Forces and the Counterterrorism Strike Force vowed to unite against the Islamist group, emphasizing that both had “agreed the war on terror will continue.”