A number of Islamist groups opposed to Hamas have had a presence in the Gaza Strip, an exclave of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. These groups began appearing in the Gaza Strip in the months leading up to and following the Israeli disengagement from the region in 2005 and have maintained a presence even after the 2007 Battle of Gaza, when Hamas wrestled control of the Gaza Strip from its rival Fatah, establishing its own de facto government in the area. [1] [2]
Hamas is itself also an Islamist organization. [3] Nonetheless, these rival groups have rejected Hamas' adherence to Palestinian nationalism and its participation in Palestinian elections, instead following a hardline Salafi jihadist ideology which condemns nationalism and participation in non-Sharia political systems. [1]
Most of these groups appear to have peaked in activity around the late 2000s and early to mid 2010s, and several of them participated as well in the Sinai insurgency in Egypt (2011-2023). Today, they hold only a marginal presence in the Gaza Strip and have been described as being "held in a choke-hold" by Hamas. [2] [4]
Besides several documented groups, there have been a number of smaller, loosely affiliated cells that adopt a variety of front names to perpetrate attacks. [1] Many terror attacks in Gaza, such as the 2007 killing of the Gazan Christian Rami Ayyad and the destruction of Crazy Water Park in 2010 were carried out by anonymous cells.
The Salafi jihadist groups in the Gaza Strip have several general points of unity:
Salafism was first introduced into the Gaza Strip in the 1970s by Palestinian students who had returned from studying abroad at religious schools in Saudi Arabia. [2] [6] The early movement was seen as helping Saudi efforts to propagate Wahhabism (which is often seen as a subset of Salafism [7] [8] ) and counter the Iranian Shia Islam of Ruhollah Khomeini. [2] According to journalist Jared Maslin, a number of Salafi groups in the Gaza Strip continue to receive support and funding from the Saudi government today. [6]
The first documented Salafi organization in the Gaza Strip was "Dar al-Kitab wa-al-Sunna" (House of the Book and Sunnah), established in 1975 by Sheikh Yasin al-Astal, which was non-violent and focused on preaching and education. During this time, Gazan Salafis distanced themselves from Palestinian politics and the struggle against Israel. Many Palestinians distrusted them, and as a result they were sometimes marginalized and isolated. [2]
The integration of jihadist ideology into Gazan Salafism began in the 2000s, and appears to have correlated with similar radicalization processes in the Sinai; the first reports on "violent Salafis" date to this period as well. [9] [10] After a period of stagnation, a number of Salafi jihadist groups began to appear in 2005 as Israel prepared for its disengagement from the Gaza Strip. [2]
Army of Islam جَيش الإسلام Jaysh al-Islām | |
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Leader | Mumtaz Dughmush |
Dates of operation | 2005–present |
Motives | The creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, and the restoration of the caliphate [11] |
Active regions | Gaza Strip, Egypt, Syria |
Ideology | Salafism Jihadism Sunni Islamism |
Opponents | ![]() ![]() |
Jaysh al-Islam ("The Army of Islam") was founded in late 2005 [12] by the Dogmush clan, a Gazan criminal family. [1] [13] It was initially close to Hamas, and they participated together in the kidnapping of Israeli Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006. [1] The group also carried out the kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in 2006. [12]
The Army of Islam began to turn against Hamas in the months preceding the latter's takeover of Gaza, and organized the kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnston in March 2007 [14] with the likely intention of embarrassing Hamas. [1] After it seized power in June 2007, Hamas was able to secure Johnston's release, [15] and subsequently began to suppress the Army of Islam's activities, which nonetheless continued sporadically and included attacks on co-ed schools, local Christians, and a YMCA building. [1]
Egyptian authorities stated that the January 2011 Alexandria bombing was carried out by the Army of Islam. [16] [17] [18] [19] The attack, which targeted Coptic Christians, was the deadliest act of violence against the community in a decade, since the Kosheh massacre in 2000 which left 20 Copts dead. [20]
The group participated in the Sinai insurgency [21] alongside Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad and the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, and smuggled members into the Gaza Strip for training, later sending them back to the Sinai Peninsula to carry out attacks. [22] Army of Islam members linked to the August 2012 Sinai attack have reportedly sought refuge in the Gaza Strip. [16]
In a 2019 interview, the Army of Islam condemned Hamas as an "apostate" group. [11]
The group may have completely collapsed as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war (2023-present), on account of the Dogmush clan appearing to have been nearly wiped out by Israeli bombings, [23] [24] and Hamas reportedly executing their leader for stealing humanitarian aid. [25]
Suyuf al-Haq | |
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سيوف الحق | |
Also known as | "Righteous Swords of Islam" or the "Swords of Islamic Righteousness" |
Leader | Abu Suheib al-Maqdisi |
Headquarters | Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip |
Active regions | Gaza Strip, Palestine |
Ideology |
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Opponents |
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Suyuf al-Haq (Arabic : سيوف الحق, romanized: Suyūf al-Ħaq, lit. 'The Swords of Truth' or 'The Swords of Righteousness') [26] is or was a "veteran" group primarily concentrated in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. It is supposedly led by former Hamas cleric Abu Suheib al-Maqdisi, who left Hamas to protest its decision to take part in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections. [1]
Suyuf al-Haq has organized attacks against targets they deem immoral or un-Islamic, such as internet cafes, claiming they blew up more than 50 "morally corrupted" businesses in 2007. [27] [28] The group has conducted an acid attack against a young woman dressed "provocatively", attacked a young man listening to music, and threatened Christians. In 2007, the group orchestrated the assassination of senior Palestinian intelligence officer Colonel Jed Tayya, whom it accused of being a Mossad agent. [1] In June 2007, they issued a threat towards Gazan female television broadcasters, warning that they would "cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed to protect the spirit and moral of this nation", demanding they cease wearing Western-style clothing and makeup. An unnamed Palestinian senior security official accused Hamas of funding the group, which Hamas denied. [29] [30]
Jihadia Salafiya is or was a group mainly known for its threats against Christians. Their leader, Abu Saqer, said in 2007 that Hamas "must work to impose an Islamic rule or it will lose the authority it has and the will of the people" and that Christians "must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza". The group demanded as well an end to Christian missionary activity in the Gaza Strip. [31] [32]
Jihadia Salafiya was also suspected of attacking a United Nations school in the region which hosted a co-ed sporting event. [31]
Jaysh al-Ummah ("The Army of the Nation") formed in June 2007 and took credit for firing three rockets into Israel that month. Unlike other groups, it has avoided claiming responsibility for internal attacks inside Gaza and instead has focused on attacks on Israel. In January 2008 they declared their intent to assassinate American president George W. Bush and stressed their alignment with Al-Qaeda. Abu Hafs al-Maqdisi, the group's leader, condemned Hamas for not implementing Sharia law, and would end up temporarily detained by Hamas himself. Since then, the two groups have had a mutual hostility but refrain from openly fighting. [1]
Jaysh al-Ummah nonetheless fought alongside Hamas in the 2012 Gaza conflict [33] and the 2014 Gaza War. [34] [33] It claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Israel in 2019 [35] and also claimed to have taken part in the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, shooting rockets at Israeli targets. [36] [37] During the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the group reported that it attacked IDF troops in the Gaza Strip. [38]
Jund Ansar Allah ("The Army of God's Supporters") was a Rafah-based group that first surfaced in late 2008. [1] In 2009 the group attempted an attack on the formerly existing Karni border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. [39] [40] Jund Ansar Allah militants holed up in a building in Khan Yunis surrendered in a standoff with Hamas police in July 2009. [41] Hamas officials also blamed the group for the bombings of several internet cafes, and of a wedding party attended by relatives of the West Bank-based Fatah leader, Mohammed Dahlan, in which fifty people were injured. Jund Ansar Allah denied any responsibility for the latter attack, and Fatah leaders blamed Hamas. [42]
In August 2009, Jund Ansar Allah launched a revolt against Hamas, establishing the short-lived "Islamic Emirate of Rafah"; the rebellion was crushed by Hamas after a day of fighting, resulting in the group being virtually destroyed and its leaders killed. [1] [43] [44] Remnants of the group did however claim responsibility for rocket attacks against Israel in October 2009 and March 2010. [1]
Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin ("The Armies of Monotheism and Jihad in Palestine") emerged in 2008 and has been responsible for rocket attacks against Israel and attacks against Gazan Christians. [45] The group participated in the Sinai insurgency [46] alongside the Army of Islam and the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem. Notably, it kidnapped and murdered Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian peace activist who supported the Palestinian cause, in 2011. The group said that if their imprisoned leader Hesham al-Sa'eedni was not released by Hamas, they would execute Arrigoni. However, he was found dead well before the deadline; Hamas stormed the house where he was being held and successfully fought the abductors, but found him hanged. [47] The Los Angeles Times commented:
[T]he kidnapping raised questions about Hamas' control over Gaza, and it represents the latest example of how smaller, more radical groups in the territory—some with alleged ties to Al Qaeda—are challenging the rule of Hamas, which itself is viewed by Israel and the United States as a terrorist organization. Those groups complain that Hamas has become too moderate. [48]
Kataeb al-Tawhid (the Monotheism Brigades) is the militant wing of Liwa al-Tawhid. [49] They were a group that emerged in 2009. It claimed a cadre of several hundred fighters and an expertise in “RPG rockets, kalashnikovs, explosive devices, and mines, but we are trained in everything, including martyrdom.” [1] “Liwa al-Tawhid” is an extension of the “al-Tawhid and wal-Jihad Brigades” and “Jund Ansar Allah”. [49]
Jaljalat ("Thunder") is or was a "loosely-structured" group aligned with Al-Qaeda and composed largely of former Hamas personnel. [1] [2] The group voiced its condemnation of Hamas and organized two bombing attacks against Hamas government buildings in August 2009 as revenge against the suppression of Jund Ansar Allah earlier that month. [50] In September 2009, Jaljalat revealed that it had attempted to assassinated former US president Jimmy Carter and former UK prime minister Tony Blair, but the plot had been foiled by Hamas. [51] Hamas captured the group's leader, Mahmoud Taleb, in October 2009. [52]
The Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade surfaced in 2015 and is affiliated with the (so called) Islamic State. [53] The group was responsible for the Askhelon rocket attacks into Israel that year. Hamas raided the home of their leader Yunis Hunnar in June 2015; he was shot dead while resisting arrest. [54]
The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem was formed in 2011 or 2012 by Hisham Al-Saedni [55] and is linked to both Al-Qaeda [56] and the Islamic State. [57] It has carried out attacks against Israel [56] and participated in the Sinai insurgency [58] with the Army of Islam and Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. Hamas initiated a crackdown on the group in July 2013. [59]
The Lions of Monotheism was a group that firebombed five Christian churches in September 2006 in response to the controversy over Pope Benedict XVI's comments on Islam. While one of the church attacks occurred in the Gaza Strip, the other four were carried out in Nablus, in the West Bank. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was at that time prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, condemned the attacks. [60] [61]
The Free of the Homeland was a group which attacked and vandalized a children's summer camp run by the United Nations in May 2010. It accused the organization of promoting immorality in the Gaza Strip. Hamas condemned the attack. [62]
Palestinian political violence refers to actions carried out by Palestinians with the intent to achieve political objectives that can involve the use of force, some of which are considered acts of terror, and often carried out in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Common objectives of political violence by Palestinian groups include self-determination in and sovereignty over Palestine, or the "liberation of Palestine" and recognition of a Palestinian state, either in place of both Israel and the Palestinian territories, or solely in the Palestinian territories. This includes the objective of ending the Israeli occupation. Some of the factions have called for the destruction of the state of Israel. More limited goals include the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and recognition of the Palestinian right of return.
Army of Islam, officially The Army of Islam Group in Jerusalem, is a Salafi Jihadist militant organization in the Gaza Strip. It was founded by the Doghmush clan in 2006, and is based in the Tzabra neighborhood in the center of the Gaza Strip. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the UAE.
It is believed that members of Al-Qaeda are hiding along the border of Afghanistan and northwest sections of Pakistan. In Iraq, elements loosely associated with al-Qaeda, in the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad organization commanded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have played a key role in the War in Iraq.
The Battle of Rafah (2009) took place between Hamas and Jund Ansar Allah in the Rafah Governorate of the Gaza Strip. Fighting between the two Palestinian militant organizations broke out on 14 August 2009, when Jund Ansar Allah's founder Abdel Latif Moussa denounced the Hamas government for supposedly failing to enforce Islamic law and for "not being any different from a secular government" since it ousted Fatah during the Battle of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. He subsequently proclaimed the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Rafah and swore allegiance to al-Qaeda. In total, 26 people were killed and 150 were wounded during the conflict, including an 11-year-old Palestinian girl. Moussa was killed in Rafah on 15 August 2009, triggering the collapse of Jund Ansar Allah and the Islamic Emirate of Rafah.
Jund Ansar Allah was an armed radical Palestinian Salafi-jihadist organization operating in the Gaza Strip. It was founded in November 2008 by Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa. On 14 August 2009, Moussa announced the establishment of the al-Qaeda inspired Islamic Emirate of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The group criticized the ruling power, Hamas, for failing to enforce Sharia law. In response, Hamas attacked the organization, resulting in 24 people killed and a further 150 wounded. After the battle, Jund Ansar Allah ceased to exist.
Jaljalat is an armed Sunni Islamist group operating in the Gaza Strip taking inspiration from al-Qaeda. In September 2009, the organization revealed it had attempted to assassinate former US president Jimmy Carter and Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair.
The Egypt–Gaza barrier is a steel border barrier constructed by Egypt along its 14 km border with the Gaza Strip. The Rafah border crossing is the only border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Rocket attacks on the neighboring cities of Eilat, in Israel, and Aqaba, in Jordan, have been a tactic used by militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and organizations linked with Al-Qaeda because of the relative ease of launching rocket attacks against these two cities from adjacent desert areas. Most of these attacks target Eilat, the last attack on Aqaba was in 2010.
Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin is a Sunni Islamist Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula, and is the branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza. The establishment of the group was publicly announced on 6 November 2008, with communiqués vowing loyalty to al-Qaeda, after having "received the messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri." Various forms of the "Tawhid al-Jihad" label have appeared in relation to developments in the Gaza Strip. The size of the group is not publicly known.
Vittorio Arrigoni was an Italian journalist and activist. He worked with the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM), through which he arrived in the Gaza Strip in 2008. He maintained a website called Guerrilla Radio and also published a book about his experiences in Gaza City during the 2008–2009 Gaza War between Hamas and Israel. In 2011, he was abducted and murdered by a group of Salafi jihadists. The Hamas government, which identified the perpetrators as Palestinian and Jordanian affiliates of al-Qaeda, subsequently initiated a manhunt and arrested the accused suspects during a raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp. Arrigoni was the first foreign national to have been involved in such an incident in the Gaza Strip since the kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnston in 2007.
The August 2012 Sinai attack occurred on 5 August 2012, when armed men ambushed an Egyptian military base in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 16 soldiers and stealing two armored cars, which they used to infiltrate into Israel. The attackers broke through the Kerem Shalom border crossing to Israel, where one of the vehicles exploded. They then engaged in a firefight with soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), during which six of the attackers were killed. No Israelis were injured.
The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem or simply the Mujahideen Shura Council is an armed Palestinian Salafi jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda that is active in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and in the Gaza Strip. The group was formed in 2011 or 2012 by Salafist Islamist Hisham Al-Saedni to coordinate the activities of the Salafi jihadist groups operating in Gaza even before the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and has carried out attacks against civilians in Israel. The group describes violence against Jews as a religious obligation that brings its perpetrators closer to God. Al-Saedni, who was the leader of the group and also of Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on 14 October 2012. The group is subordinated with Al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula as of August 2012.
Hisham Al Saedni, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Walid al-Maqdisi, was a Palestinian military activist and a Muslim leader and founding member of the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem in the Gaza Strip and he was also leader of al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, a branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza.
Jund al-Aqsa, later known as Liwa al-Aqsa after 7 February 2017, was a Salafist jihadist organization that was active during the Syrian Civil War. Formerly known as Sarayat al-Quds, the group was founded by Abu Abdul 'Aziz al-Qatari as a subunit within the al-Nusra Front. The group later became independent, because al-Nusra was growing too rapidly for its resources and had suffered from fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On 20 September 2016 the U.S. Department of State designated Jund al-Aqsa as a terrorist organization. The group rejoined al-Nusra Front, by then renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), in October 2016. However, on 23 January 2017, JFS declared that Jund Al-Aqsa was no longer part of Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham. In early February 2017, some of Jund al-Aqsa's units joined the newly formed Tahrir al-Sham, while the others refused and formed a new splinter group called Liwa al-Aqsa, and captured many towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib from other rebel groups. Following these attacks, Tahrir al-Sham launched a military operation against Liwa al-Aqsa, accusing them of being an ISIL affiliate. Following intense clashes with Tahrir al-Sham, up to 2,100 Liwa al-Aqsa militants left Idlib Province to join ISIL in Raqqa Province, by 22 February 2017.
The Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, also known as Islamic State in Gaza, is an Islamist militant group affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant that was reportedly active in the Gaza Strip around 2015. Its goals have consistently matched those of the Islamic State, in that it seeks to establish the al-Sham caliphate. As such, it opposes all forms of Palestinian nationalism while also supporting the elimination of all Jews and other ethno-religious 'infidels' from the region.
Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, or AQSP, is an Egyptian militant jihadist organization possibly formed by a merger between al-Qaeda operatives in Sinai and Ansar al Jihad. It was Al-Qaeda's branch in the Sinai peninsula, and is composed of many Al-Qaeda factions in the area. AQSP made international headlines in November 2014 when the organization pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in a nine-minute audio speech released on Twitter.
Ansar al-Tawhid is an armed Islamist group fighting in the Syrian Civil War. The group is made up of former Jund al-Aqsa members. It was allied with Al-Qaeda and part of the Hurras al-Din-led Rouse the Believers Operations Room until May 2020, when it announced its departure from the coalition.
Jund al-Islam was an active armed insurgent group affiliated with al-Qaeda operating primarily in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Jaysh al-Ummah al-Salafi fi Bayt al-Maqdis, also known as Jaysh al-Ummah fi Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis or simply Jaysh al-Ummah, is a small Palestinian Salafi jihadist militant organization based in the Gaza Strip. The group is supportive of al-Qaeda and critical of Hamas.
The Islamic Emirate of Rafah was a short-lived unrecognized Islamic state located in Rafah. It was founded by Jund Ansar Allah when they declared independence in 2009, two years after the Hamas takeover of Gaza. It collapsed after the 2009 Battle of Rafah.
The most successful radical Sunni Islamist group has been Hamas, which began as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine in the early 1980s.
Their leader, Mohammed Dormosh, is well known for his ties to the Hamas leadership.
We at Army of Islam made the preparations for operation 'Dissipating Illusion,' which was carried out in cooperation with the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade and the Popular Resistance Committees Salah a-Din. We kidnapped Gilad Shalit and handed him over to Hamas.