Hundreds of Palestinians were murdered in a major explosion at Gaza City’s Ahli Arab Hospital. The Gaza Health Ministry estimated at least 500 casualties, with more expected. The injured and other Palestinians seeking shelter were kept at the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, which is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. According to the ministry, Israeli airplanes targeted the Ahli Baptist Hospital. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) denied responsibility for the strike, blaming it on a “misfired rocket” by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
Islamic Jihad, like Hamas, is a terrorist organization listed by the United States
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization is considered the second-largest armed organisation in Gaza. Despite being highly active in the region, its operations were frequently neglected due to the larger Hamas organization, which has occupied and governed Gaza since 2007. Islamic Jihad, like Hamas, is a terrorist organization listed by the United States. Fathi Shaqaqi and Abd al-Aziz Awda created the group in the Gaza Strip in the 1980s while students in Egypt and members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist social movement founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928.
Sometime in the late 1970s, the two thought that the Muslim Brotherhood was not entirely devoted to the Palestinian cause, so they formed a branch to resist the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Both were profoundly influenced by the Iranian revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. However, after the killing of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, the organization broke from the Muslim Brotherhood and was deported to Gaza by the Egyptian government. Both factions are thought to be supported financially and militarily by Iran’s Islamic regime. Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, its doctrine centred on rebuilding Islamic society by seizing the Holy Land, the historic region of Palestine that includes Israel, rather than through internal reform.
Hamas has more autonomy in Gaza decision-making, according to the Wall Street Journal
The United States, which classified Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organization in 1997, claims the group is determined to destroy Israel in order to establish an Islamic state that includes the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel. The primary distinction between Hamas and Islamic Jihad is that the former accepts Israel within its pre-1967 borders, whereas the latter does not. Despite this, Hamas members continue to advocate for Israel’s destruction. According to Israeli military sources and analysts, Islamic Jihad is heavily influenced by Iran, whereas Hamas has more autonomy in Gaza decision-making, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Islamic Jihad often acts independently of Hamas and is focused primarily on military confrontations. On some occasions, Hamas has stayed on the sidelines as Islamic Jihad has clashed with Israel. In other cases, Hamas has joined the Islamic Jihad in battling the Israeli military. “But at times it is a tense relationship, especially when Hamas has exerted pressure on Islamic Jihad to stop attacks or retaliation against Israel,” the New York Times report said.
Following Hamas militants’ audacious raid on Israel, Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah announced in a televised statement that his troops were holding 30 detainees. The most recent data on Islamic Jihad’s strength are difficult to come by, although estimates for 2021 range from 1,000 to several thousand militants, according to the CIA’s World Factbook. The gang also possesses a substantial arsenal of rockets, mortars, and anti-tank missiles. Islamic Jihad does not make such information public. Unlike Hamas, Islamic Jihad has not run in Palestinian parliamentary elections and does not appear to be interested in forming a government in Gaza or the West Bank.
The Islamic Jihad’s usually employs suicide bombings targetting attacks on Israeli civilians and military personnel as their most potent modus operandi.
1987: Killing Of an Israeli military police commander in Gaza
1994: Car bomb attack killing nine and injuring 50 aboard a public bus
1995: Suicide bomb attack killing 18 soldiers and one civilian in Israel’s Netanya.
1996: Suicide bomb attack at a Tel Aviv shopping mall killing 13 and injuring 75.
2003: Suicide bomb attack a Haifa restaurant killing 22 and injuring 60.
An Israeli army spokesperson addressed a press conference on Tuesday declaring that “an analysis of IDF operational systems indicates a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the hospital at the time it was hit. Intelligence from a few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the Islamic Jihad is responsible.” The office also told Israeli media that Israel is in possession of audio recordings in which Islamic Jihad members say out loud that they are responsible for the explosion.
