Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters that Israeli-supported group says were aid workers

CAIRO — A unit of Gaza’s Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia after detaining them early Thursday. An Israel-supported aid group, however, said the dead were its aid workers, eight of whom were killed when Hamas attacked their bus.

It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed. The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers.

The deaths were the latest sign of turmoil surrounding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private contractor that Israel says will replace the U.N. in distributing food to Gaza’s more than 2 million people. The past two weeks, dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in near daily shootings as they try to reach GHF centers, with witnesses saying Israeli troops nearby have repeatedly opened fire.

On Wednesday, at least 13 people were killed and 170 wounded when Israeli forces fired toward a crowd of Palestinians near a GHF food center in central Gaza, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The military said it fired warning shots overnight at a gathering that posed a threat, hundreds of yards from the aid site.

Internet and phone lines, meanwhile, were down across Gaza, according to telecom provider Paltel and the Palestinian telecoms authority. They said a key line was severed during an Israeli operation and that the military would not allow technicians into the area to repair it.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. Previous blackouts have deepened Gaza’s isolation and made it difficult for people to call first responders after airstrikes.

‘They were aid workers’

Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza, making it difficult to confirm what happened in the killings early Wednesday near the southern city of Khan Younis.

GHF said Hamas attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen of its local Palestinian aid workers, killing at least eight and wounding others. It said it feared some had been taken hostage.

“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” it said. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others.”

The Israeli military circulated ‘s GHF’s statement but declined to provide its own account of what happened.

Rev. Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings “absolute evil.”

GHF says its staff at the centers include unarmed Palestinian employees. Much of the staff are armed international contractors, mainly Americans, guarding the centers.

The Abu Shabab group fighters are deployed inside the Israeli military zones that surround the GHF centers, according to witnesses. Earlier this week, witnesses said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding many. GHF says it does not work with the Abu Shabab group. Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas.

Hamas says it killed traitors

Hamas has rejected the GHF system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who cooperate with the Israeli military.

The Sahm police unit, which Hamas says it established to combat looting, released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel.

It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them.

Mohammed Abu Amin, a Khan Younis resident who was at the scene, said a crowd celebrated the killings, shouting “God is greatest” and condemning those killed as traitors to the Palestinian cause and agents of Israel.

Ghassan Duhine, who identifies himself as a major in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group, posted a statement online saying Abu Shabab fighters had clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the bodies in the image were of the group’s fighters.

The Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group, but many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA officers.

Aid initiative already marred by controversy

Aid workers say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel’s renewed military campaign and its 2 1/2 month ban o n imports of food, fuel, medicine to Gaza, which was slightly eased in mid-May.

The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the Israeli and U.S.-backed GHF system. They say it is unable to meet Gaza’s needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon to enact its military plans — including plans to move Gaza’s entire population to the south of Gaza, near the GHF hubs. Some fear this could be part of an Israeli plan to coerce Palestinians into leaving Gaza.

Israel and the United States say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing U.N.-run system.

The Israeli military on Thursday released what it said were seized Hamas documents that show the group siphons off aid.

One of the documents, apparently showing part of the minutes from a meeting held last year, included an item saying that the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, had previously taken 25% of the aid but had agreed to settle for 7%, with 4% going to the Hamas-run government and 4% to the political movement. It did not specify the source or quantity of the aid. Israel did not release the entire document.

The documents also detailed Hamas’ efforts to keep traders from hoarding goods and charging inflated prices for them. One of them appeared to acknowledge that some such traders had links to Hamas.

The Associated Press could not confirm the authenticity of the documents.

U.N. officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas. But they say they have struggled to deliver the little amount of supplies that Israel has allowed in for them the past month because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza.

Mounting lawlessness in Gaza

The ongoing war and mounting desperation have plunged Gaza into chaos, with armed gangs looting aid convoys and selling the stolen food. The Hamas-run police force has largely gone underground as Israel has repeatedly targeted its forces. The military now controls more than half of the territory.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. They are still holding 53 captives, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants.

Israel’s offensive has flattened large areas of Gaza and driven around 90% of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians from their homes. The territory is almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid because nearly all of its food production capabilities have been destroyed.