What is the Islamic Jihad, the organization accused of attacking the Gaza hospital?
The Gaza hospital explosion, the worst incident in the current conflict between Israel’s army and Hamas that began on October 7, was attributed by Israel to the Palestinian terrorist organization Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad rejected the charge. “The Zionist enemy is trying hard to evade its responsibility for the brutal massacre he committed by bombing the Baptist Arab National Hospital in Gaza through his usual fabrication of lies, and through pointing the finger of blame at the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine,” it said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Although not the same as Hamas, Islamic Jihad also opposes Israel. Its name initially surfaced in the continuing battle when the Israeli army claimed, using intelligence reports, that the hospital assault was caused by an unsuccessful rocket fire by the Islamic Jihad.
A terrorist organization, what is Islamic Jihad?
Based in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is an armed organization. It is Gaza’s second-largest armed organization.
In the Gaza Strip, Islamic Jihad was established in the 1980s to oppose Israeli control.
Sometimes operating separately from Hamas is Islamic Jihad. But sources claim that Iran provides both with funds and arms.
Israel and the United States both classify Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organization, along with Hamas.
The majority of military activities in Gaza is coordinated by the joint operations room, which includes Islamic Jihad and Hamas as its most significant members, according to an NTY report. “But at times it is a tense relationship, especially when Hamas has exerted pressure on Islamic Jihad to stop attacks or retaliation against Israel,” according to the article.
Regarding the interaction between Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the NYT article said that on certain instances Hamas remained neutral while Islamic Jihad engaged in combat with Israel. In the past, the two organizations have also worked together.
Attack on a Gaza hospital: What transpired
The al-Ahli hospital in Gaza caught fire on Tuesday night while it was crowded with patients who had survived the continuing conflict. Families from all around Palestine were camped out in front of the hospital. Israeli airstrikes were attributed by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Israel blamed a misfired Palestinian missile while denying any participation. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, and King Abdullah II of Jordan made the decision to cancel the scheduled Arab summit with President Joe Biden on Wednesday. Other Arab countries, including Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, and others, denounced the hospital assault or observed days of national grief. The hospital explosion, according to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, was “clearly a violation of international law… and humanity.”
