He is not one of the leaders of the resistance in the Gaza Strip, and does not hold any official status in the Gaza government or in the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, but he became the talk of social media platforms after his press and television statements, which were like walking through minefields.
Al-Mukhtar, or as some like to describe him, as “the Mukhtar of the Mukhtars”, the head of the Supreme Commission for Tribal Affairs in the Gaza Strip, Hosni Salman Hussein Al-Mughni, or as he is currently known to Palestinian and Arab activists, Abu Salman Al-Mughni.
Join the Fatah movement
Hosni Al-Mughni was born in the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City in 1941. He studied the basic stage at Hattin School, obtained a teachers’ diploma in physical education in Gaza City in 1960, and a bachelor’s degree in the Arabic language from the Faculty of Arts at Beirut Arab University in 1985.
He worked as a teacher in Egypt between 1960 and 1968, then a teacher in Kuwait between 1969 and 1992. After returning to Palestine, he joined the political direction in the Palestinian Authority until he retired with the rank of dean in 2005.
He belonged to the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) in 1968, and was active in national institutional work. He was secretary of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, a member of the Palestinian Teachers Association, and a full-time member of the Fatah movement’s office in Kuwait in 1982.
The Israeli occupation demolished his house during the “Shale Stones” War in 2012, and demolished it again during the “Eating Storm” War in 2014, and bulldozed his agricultural land.
He became involved in tribal, community, and national work in 2005, and was appointed general coordinator of the Supreme Commission for Tribal Affairs in the Gaza Strip, which held 3 popular conferences aimed at ending the division, and implemented several activities in order to maintain civil peace and family cohesion.
The Tribal Gathering for National Unity was established in 2018, and was one of the members of the supreme leadership body of the return marches to break the siege in 2018.
Opposition to Oslo
He was an opposing voice to the “Oslo Accords,” which he believes tore apart the Fatah movement, destroyed the dream of liberating Palestinian land, establishing a Palestinian state, and liberating Jerusalem, and besieged Gaza, which Al-Mughni considers “a conspiracy to end the Palestinian issue.”
It is believed that the Palestinian division is the most dangerous thing that has happened to the Palestinian cause since the Nakba, and the Fatah and Hamas movements bear responsibility for its occurrence. He considers national partnership sacred, and calls on the Palestinian Authority to achieve true partnership and unity and end division.
He supports resistance, including armed resistance, and supports any interim solution that establishes the liberation of the entire territory of historic Palestine, with the return of refugees.
Establish a limit on clients
Mukhtar Abu Salman Al-Mughni lived all the days of the brutal war on the Gaza Strip, with all its painful and excruciating details. He suffered from siege and hunger along with his people. He had clear positions in rejecting displacement from Gaza, and trying to protect aid and distribute it fairly to those who deserve it.
Abu Salman Al-Mughni rejects the “reckless campaign” that refuses to take retribution against agents, and says in this regard in more than one press statement, “We will resort to the law when our affairs stabilize, but at the present time a limit must be established.”
He added, “Dealing with agents and militias who took advantage of the security vacuum over the past years was necessary to prevent society from sliding into civil war,” but he repeated clear tribal positions of rejecting “abuses and any unorganized acts of revenge.”
He stated that these people committed “heinous crimes during the period in which control institutions were absent. They stole aid trucks and food supplies in times of hunger, formed checkpoints, spread chaos and murder, and cooperated with the occupation,” as he put it.
Urgent | Palestinian resistance factions: The security campaign in Gaza is a national necessity to protect the citizen, and we call on the families to hand over those involved
The security campaign in Gaza enjoys a national consensus to restore security and pursue mercenaries and enemy henchmen#Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/bgDlNykJsc– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) October 15, 2025
Breaking the cycle of revenge and revenge
Regarding whether the tribes support the executions of agents, Al-Mughni responded, “The tribes lifted the tribal cover from these people, and announced their complete rejection of their actions. The number is known, and they are few, and it is shameful for someone to take advantage of our circumstances to become affiliated with the occupation.”
Al-Mughni warned that the lack of control over the security situation may lead to waves of revenge among families if the security and judicial services do not address the issue quickly.
He pointed out that the measures taken by the security teams were primarily aimed at breaking the cycle of revenge and ensuring “taking rights through available institutions or temporary alternatives from local security.”
At the same time, he stressed that “any liquidation or transgression cannot constitute a substitute for fair trials and transparent legal procedures.”
Al-Mughni considered that what he described as “the misguided groups that fell into the arms of the occupation” must pay the price today.
Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Tribes in the sector #GazaWe will not accept to be an alternative to the government and whoever the people chose#Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/sO9SsFB8v0
– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) March 14, 2024
Tribes are not a substitute for the government
The head of the Supreme Commission for Tribal Affairs in the Gaza Strip had previously rejected any role for the tribes in the administration of the Gaza Strip, and explained that “the Palestinian tribes, clans and families are an integral component of our Palestinian people, and they have formed an impenetrable barrier to one of the most dangerous plans of the enemy, who tried to find local tribal alternatives loyal to him.”
His statements came after Israeli, regional and international contacts demanding that the tribes be an alternative to the government in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Mughni said, “Our position is fixed and one that cannot change. All the clans, and I speak on behalf of all of them, cannot accept being an alternative to the government. We will not be an alternative to whoever our people chose to represent them, and we will remain with the choice of our people until the elections are held.”
He added that the tribes cannot rule, and they are not qualified for this matter, and they are only meant to reconcile relations and support the government in performing its work.
Al-Mughni stressed that despite the destruction and the removal of families from the civil registry, “but our Palestinian people did not complain, but rather stood with the demands of the resistance to end the aggression.”
Al-Mughni’s recent statements spread an atmosphere of relief in the Palestinian and Arab popular arena, as they were completely consistent with statements made by the resistance and its political wing. Abu Salman Al-Mughni confirmed that the occupation “has not and will not succeed in achieving any of its goals in the Gaza Strip,” according to Mukhtar Al-Mukhtar.