Netanyahu said the government had “activated” powerful local clans in the enclave on the advice of “security officials”, his video statement posted to X on Thursday coming hours after former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused him of deploying the tactic.

Um, "activated"? This implies that the Israeli government has been incubating such groups for some time, which lie dormant until the Israeli government orders them to take action. I've heard rumors of this kind of thing so it's fascinatig to see it get admitted in public. The U.S. and Israel really do incubate secret cells and then "activate" them on-demand.