Position Paper: Proxy Militias as a Tool of Genocide and the Dismantling of Civil Peace in the Gaza Strip
Date: April 5, 2026
Press Release
Position Paper: Proxy Militias as a Tool of Genocide and the Dismantling of Civil Peace in the Gaza Strip
The International Commission to Support Palestinian People’s Rights (ICSPR – “Hashd”) issued a position paper titled: “Proxy Militias as a Tool of Genocide and the Dismantling of Civil Peace in the Gaza Strip,” addressing the phenomenon of local militias employed by Israeli occupation forces during the ongoing genocide since October 2023, as a parallel tool to deepen crimes and violations against Palestinian civilians.
The paper explained that these militias represent a form of “security privatization” aimed at undermining Palestinian civil peace by creating internal chaos and dismantling the social fabric, thereby shifting the nature of the conflict from a confrontation with the occupation to internal conflicts that drain Palestinian society.
ICSPR affirmed that the occupation’s reliance on these groups comes ضمن attempts to evade international legal responsibility, by using them as a façade to carry out killings, looting, and starvation, while portraying the situation to the international community as internal conflict, in clear violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The paper further highlighted that these militias play a central role in enforcing policies of starvation and siege by seizing humanitarian aid and selling it on the black market, which exacerbates the humanitarian crisis and pushes civilians toward forced displacement, as part of a broader strategy to render the Gaza Strip uninhabitable.
Additionally, the paper documented multiple patterns of crimes and violations committed by these groups, including restricting freedom of movement, abusing civilians, conducting field intelligence for occupation forces, participating in extrajudicial killings, looting humanitarian aid, recruiting children, exploiting vulnerable groups, and intimidating national and tribal figures to dismantle any community structures capable of maintaining internal order.
Legally, ICSPR emphasized that the actions of these militias are attributable to the occupying power under the “effective control” standard, making Israel fully responsible for these crimes as the occupying power under international humanitarian law.
The paper also noted that these violations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including child recruitment, the use of starvation as a weapon, and systematic killings and persecution. It further warned that such acts may constitute complicity in genocide within the broader context of crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.
In its conclusion, ICSPR called on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an urgent investigation into the role of these militias and to issue arrest warrants against their leaders. It also urged the International Court of Justice to include the issue of “security privatization” within the genocide case.
Moreover, ICSPR called on the international community to designate these groups as criminal organizations, pressure the occupying authorities to cease supporting them, and ensure the protection of humanitarian aid. It also stressed the importance of strengthening Palestinian national efforts to document these crimes and pursue legal accountability for those involved.
ICSPR concluded that the continuation of such policies poses a direct threat to Palestinian civil peace and reflects a systematic approach to dismantling society from within, serving the occupation’s objectives of imposing a coercive reality on the ground.
