'Fauda' in real life: Shin Bet agents posed as aid distributors in Gaza - report

Israeli operatives, according to KAN, established several small humanitarian aid projects and sold wares to Gazans who, in turn, sold the items at local markets.Follow us on Google[ILLUSTRATIVE] Palestinian citizens shop at the market in preparation for Eid al-Adha on May 26, 2026 in Gaza City, Gaza.(photo credit: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)SEPTEMBER 6, 2026 05:33Undercover operatives from the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) were embedded in Gaza as aid workers distributing food and drink to unwitting Gazan market stall-owners, according to a recent KAN News report detailing the lead-up to the recent capture of Hamas’s head of internal security, Mu’in al-Arabid, in the Gaza Strip.Israeli operatives, according to KAN, established several small humanitarian aid projects and sold wares to Gazans who, in turn, sold the items at local markets. After establishing a relationship with the storefront owners, Shin Bet operatives were able to get the Gazans to help monitor the movements of various people, including al-Arabid.Sources told KAN the Gazans only realized they had assisted the Shin Bet after al-Arabid had been captured.The IDF and Shin Bet on Tuesday night confirmed in a statement that they had captured Hamas’s head of internal security in the Gaza Strip in the first high-level capture operation deep in Gaza in a long time.The official statement did not make any direct mention of Gaza gangs being central to the operation, though there was a hint with a reference to Shin Bet’s “special forces.”Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house that was pre-warned by the Israeli military to evacuate before the strike was carried out late on Wednesday, in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, July 16, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)However, The Jerusalem Post and other media have received clear indications, along with confirmations in foreign reports, that anti-Hamas Gaza gangs were at the heart of the operation, even while supported by the IDF and the Shin Bet.Shin Bet developed relationships with locals in order to gather intelligenceSources also told KAN that, one day before the capture, Shin Bet personnel replaced their Gazan customers at the market and hid their weapons in their stalls. When the operation began, they grabbed their weapons and fled. Sources told KAN that the Shin Bet operatives were physically present in the market area for only a day or two before the operation, primarily relying on relationships they had developed with locals to gather intelligence.When questioned, the Gazans who helped claimed they knew nothing about the plan, according to the KAN report.Katz, Netanyahu play up al-Arabid's importance to HamasPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz both sought to emphasize Arabid’s importance, with the prime minister saying he played a major role in managing the hiding of the over 250 Israeli hostages after October 7, 2023.However, a Palestinian source in Gaza told the Post that the man captured was in charge of Hamas’s internal security department in the area of Gaza City only, which would have made him more of a mid-level official.The source added that members of an anti-Hamas group played a role in the operation and that the terror organization is trying to “downplay the incident” and that “its internal security forces are actively pursuing militias supported by Israel.”The final statement by the IDF and the Shin Bet seemed to settle on the official being more important than Hamas claimed but less important than Netanyahu and Katz contended.Yonah Jeremy Bob, Dana Ben-Shimon, Avi Ashkenazi, and Amichai Stein contributed to this report.Follow us on Google