FIRST ON FOX: As Hamas uses the ceasefire to regroup and reassert control across parts of Gaza, a small number of emerging Palestinian militias say they are trying to form an alternative force inside the enclave. One of their leaders, Shawqi Abu Nasira, told Fox News Digital the pause in fighting has become a “kiss of life” for Hamas and warned the group is rebuilding.

“Hamas works for Iran,” he said. “They got weakened, yes, true, but the ceasefire, they gave them a kiss of life, and they are now preparing themselves better, trying to equip themselves. They are opening their own centers,” and added, “I’d like to thank President Trump for freezing the assets of Hamas and for labeling the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.”

Abu Nasira, a former senior Palestinian Authority police official who spent 16 years in an Israeli prison, is now operating with a small band of fighters on the eastern side of Gaza’s “yellow line,” in territory under Israeli military control. “I moved to the east of a yellow line, to the area that is now [controlled by the] Israeli Army. I was forced to move because I had no other option but to flee Hamas,” he said.

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According to Jusoor News, a pan-Arab media outlet that recently launched an English-language channel reporting on Gaza, Abu Nasira’s defection began years ago when Hamas killed his only son and “dragged his body through the Strip.” He told Jusoor that the killing and public display of the body solidified his decision to oppose Hamas.

Abu Nasira told Fox News Digital he acknowledged his own faction is small. “I have dozens of fighters now fighting with me,” he said. “We lack a lot of equipment, and we need better assistance.” But he argued that many Gazans share his view. “People that are now living in tents, people that are starved, people that are living in the street. They have no medication. These people don’t want Hamas.”

The ceasefire has exposed a chaotic landscape of militias, clan groups and local networks that have emerged as Hamas’s control weakened. Although none rival Hamas in size or capability, several factions have gained visibility.

These include the Popular Forces in Rafah, the Popular Army in northern Gaza, the Counter-Terrorism Strike Force in Khan Yunis and the Shujaiya Popular Defense Forces in eastern Gaza City, along with powerful clan-based networks such as the al-Majayda and Doghmosh families. Their alliances shift frequently, and their structure varies widely, but all have appeared or strengthened during the breakdown of centralized rule.

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Abu Nasira said many of these groups are in contact. “They are our brothers and sisters,” he said. “All of these people, they are holding arms and fighting Hamas for a reason, because they were the first witness to Hamas terrorism and they are victims of Hamas.”

He said early efforts are underway to unite the factions. “We are coordinating all of these groups together to work under one political umbrella, and they can act as a National Guard for East Gaza,” he said.

Abu Nasira argued that Palestinians, not outside powers, should be the ones to remove Hamas from Gaza. “We can now, as Palestinians, attack them,” he said. “We just need the support in order to win this war, and we can finish it in a few months.”

WARFARE EXPERT CALLS GAZA REBUILDING PLAN ‘DISNEYLAND STRATEGY’ TO DEFEAT HAMAS

He rejected the idea that Gazans would fear being labeled collaborators. “Whenever you say no to Hamas, you are accused as an operator, or you will be executed,” he said. “Everybody in Gaza knows that, so that’s not going to scare us anymore.”

In a message to Americans, Abu Nasira said the stakes go beyond Gaza. “Fighting terror is a campaign that we all should fight against,” he said. “It can spread from Gaza to all over the world.”

He described Hamas as part of a broader network. “As long as the triangle of Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Republic in Iran are working all together, that is a threat to the entire human, civilized world,” he said.

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He dismissed the concept known as the “Disneyland strategy,” which envisions building functioning civilian zones east of the yellow line to inspire pressure against Hamas over time. “This is a good, nice talk, but this is a long term,” he said. “We don’t need to give them the time to get strong.”

As Hamas regains strength under the ceasefire, Abu Nasira said Palestinians “are ready” and “want to fight for our future,” insisting that with international backing, a unified alternative can still be built.

Belgian authorities raided the offices of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the bloc’s diplomatic arm, on Tuesday morning as part of an anti-fraud investigation.

The premises of the College of Europe in the city of Bruges, which receives funding from the EU institutions, were also searched as part of the operation, as well as the private homes of individuals in Belgium.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said it requested the raids as part of a probe into suspected fraud related to EU-funded training for junior diplomats, and that three people were detained.

Euronews has reached out to the Belgian police for comment.

This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ken Johnson, 63, just got a new roommate last week — a black bear living in the crawl space under his home in Southern California.

The bear was seen on video footage clambering out from beneath his house Tuesday. He had installed a camera near the space back in June when he saw what looked like damage caused by an animal.

Nothing showed up on the camera until last week. And now he’s trying to figure out how to make it leave.

“It’s a huge bear,” Johnson said, describing it as tall as a table and bigger than the trash bins in front of his house. “It’s really unnerving because I don’t know if he’s going to tear everything up under there, I don’t know how to get him out.”

Johnson lives in Altadena, an unincorporated community northeast of Los Angeles that was devastated by the Eaton Fire in January. The fire killed at least 19 people and scorched thousands of structures, but it also tore through the Angeles National Forest, displacing wildlife from their natural habitats and destroying their food supply.

Shortly after the fire, at least two bears were found taking refuge in people’s evacuated homes in Altadena. State officials removed a massive, 525-pound (240-kilogram) adult male bear from a crawl space under a man’s home in January because utility crews could not get in to restore his power.

The bear was too large to be tranquilized, so employees from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife set a bear trap before taking it to the Angeles National Forest to be released with a tracking collar, the state agency wrote on social media. In February, another homeowner found himself with an unwelcome roommate, snapping pictures of a bear lounging by the pool and bringing food back to the crawl space at night, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“In the foothills of bear country, it’s important to close crawl spaces with bear-proof material in advance of winter months to discourage bears from denning and damaging property,” the CDFW wrote on social media after that incident.

While it’s not cold enough in Southern California for bears to hibernate, they will engage in a behavior called “denning,” where they take long naps but may emerge periodically to eat.

Since Tuesday, Johnson’s bear has come and gone from his house several times. He can hear “all kinds of clunking and booming” under the floorboards, and the bear rummaged through his trash cans on Sunday evening before retreating back to its chosen home.

It has dark brown fur with a tan snoot and two tan marks on its chest. Other neighbors have seen the same bear around the area before and call it Barry, although Johnson said he doesn’t know if the bear is male or female.

Johnson reached out to local law enforcement regarding the bear after it growled at him when he was changing his camera batteries. They told him to call state officials, but he was eventually directed to fill a form out online reporting a bear sighting. He checked a box for “Property Damage” and wrote, “It’s living under my house.”

So far, he hasn’t gotten a response.

CDFW spokesperson Cort Klopping said Monday afternoon that field experts were working on two other bear incidents in the region and would hopefully be able to respond to Johnson “soon.” He confirmed that the yellow tag on the bear’s ear indicated it was the state agency’s jurisdiction and not federal.

Bears in crawl spaces are a common occurrence this time of year, with teams potentially responding to five of these incidents in a week, Klopping said.

If the bear isn’t removed soon, Johnson mused, he might have to take matters into his own hands.

“The plan is, I’m going to buy a bunch of dinner rolls, and line them down the street up to the hole, and have some sandbags ready,” Johnson said. “When he comes down the street to get the dinner rolls, throw sandbags in there and cover it with pepper spray, and just hope he stays away.”