Four groups in all have taken up arms and a powerful clan ordered a retreat from Gaza City instead of obeying Hamas.By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel NewsA fourth Gaza clan has announced active opposition to Hamas, Abu Ali Express reported Saturday.The Israeli social media channel that covers Arab affairs cited Gazan sources who named a new militia, “The Popular Army, Northern Forces,” which has begun operating under Israeli auspices in the area of Beit Hanoun, extending south through Jabalya to the northern border of Gaza City.This comes in addition to an armed force established recently in eastern Khan Yunis by former Palestinian Authority member Hussam al-Astal, who says he cooperates with Israeli forces stationed less than a kilometer away, close to the al-Muwassi humanitarian zone in Gaza, which he claims his militia controls.In a recent Channel 12 interview, al-Astal said two years of war was enough.“We didn’t want Hamas, we didn’t want war,” he said in fluent Hebrew. “We want peace [because] without being connected to Israel, I can’t work. No one can work.”His area was free of all Hamas forces, was safe, and had water, food and electricity for the “hundreds” of Gazans that were turning to his militia every day, he said.Another new group is the Popular Forces of Beit Lahiya, led by Ashraf al-Mansi in northern Gaza, which Hamas has already threatened.On Friday, Abu Ali Express cited unofficial Hamas-affiliated channels claiming the militia was operating alongside the IDF in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan area.The sources accused the group of bringing a medical team to the IDF for interrogation and of executing three people in Gaza City.They also said three of al-Mansi’s men were killed last week in a Hamas ambush.Hamas denounced the Beit Lahiya militia in its media as “a criminal network of 20 individuals with previous convictions for drug offenses, theft, espionage, and corruption, in exchange for money, drugs, and protection from the occupation.”It vowed to use “an iron fist” against the “gang,” and threatened death for anyone cooperating with it.Families of members were told to renounce them publicly or be charged with complicity.Yasser Abu Shabab, who was the first to announce months ago that he had formed an anti-Hamas “Counter Terrorism Service” operating in the southern city of Rafah and offering safety and food to Gazan refugees in cooperation with Israel, officially took the Beit Lahiya militia under his wing Friday.Meanwhile, the powerful Bakr clan expressed its dissatisfaction with Hamas in a different way, according to Abu Ali Express.Citing Hamas sources, the channel reported that Israeli intelligence suggested the clan’s mukhtar form a militia, but he declined.Instead, he ordered the clan to move south to Khan Yunis, despite previously vowing to follow Hamas’ orders not to evacuate.The Bakr clan controls Gaza’s fishing and maritime smuggling sector, with about 40 percent of Gaza’s fishermen among its members. Observers called the decision a significant loss of support for Hamas.The Israeli channel noted that the Bakr clan is very powerful as it controls “the fishing and maritime smuggling sector in the Gaza Strip.”It has thousands of members, making it “very important to Hamas,” and the decision to leave is considered a significant loss of support for the terror organization. The post Is Hamas losing control? Growing clan resistance in Gaza appeared first on World Israel News.