On the 17th of October 2023, one of the deadliest strikes occurred at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that killed more than 500 people.
The Gaza hospital attack was condemned by many world leaders given the innocent lives lost in it and was seen as retaliation by Israel for the Hamas attacks that were carried out on the region on 7th October.
Israel reportedly has completely denied any responsibility for the attack and claims that the explosion was carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group.
What Is The Islamic Jihad Group?
The Palestine Islamic Jihad or simply Islamic Jihad group is the second largest armed group in Gaza after the Hamas organization.
It is unclear when the group was founded but sources say it was sometime in the 1970s to 1980s in the Gaza Strip and its main aim is to fight the “Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories” and form an independent Palestinian state.
Where the Hamas group eventually ventured into political areas, the Islamic Jihad remains the more radical group and focused mostly on armed attacks.
It is reportedly led by Ziyad al-Nakhalah and Muhammad al-Hindi and the group is present in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Since the 1990s the al-Quds Brigades, PIJ’s military wing has carried out various attacks on Israeli targets.
The group was founded by Fathi Shaqaqi and Abd al-Aziz Awda, who were previously students in Egypt and part of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (EMB).
The EMB is a Sunni Islamist social movement founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, but the duo broke away from the Brotherhood after feeling it was not fully with the Palestinian cause.
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They then created a group of their own focused solely on the militant destruction of the Israeli state and were inspired by the Iranian revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The PIJ, as per reports, was exiled to Gaza in 1981 after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat that same year.
According to a report by The New York Times, while Hamas and Islamic Jihad are both important members of the joint operations but they often butt heads. The report states “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 group is officially considered a terrorist organisation by both the US State Department and Israel.
The Islamic Jihad has, however, denied the accusation by Israel and released a statement saying “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.”
What Did Israel Say About The Blasts?
It all started with Hananya Naftali, a digital aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, posting and then deleting a tweet writing “Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza.”
He then posted an explanation post writing “Earlier today I shared a report that was published on @reuters about the bombing at the hospital in Gaza which falsely stated Israel struck the hospital.
I mistakenly shared this information in a since-deleted post in which I referenced Hamas’ routine use of hospitals to store weapons caches and conduct terrorist activity. I apologize for this error.
As the IDF does not bomb hospitals, I assumed Israel was targeting one of the Hamas bases in Gaza. It is known that Hamas is using civilians as human shields, it is a war crime and a crime against humanity. This should be the focus.”
On the 18th of October, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) explained the strike and blamed it on a failed missile launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) writing “From the analysis of the operational systems of the [Israeli army], an enemy rocket barrage was carried out towards Israel, which passed through the vicinity of the hospital when it was hit.
According to intelligence information, from several sources we have, the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is responsible for the failed shooting that hit the hospital.”
As per reports, this tweet was later edited to remove a video that had been added as alleged evidence for their claims.
Aric Toler, a journalist on the visual investigations team at The New York Times posted about the credibility of the video writing in a post “The first public mentions of the hospital strike were around 7:20pm local time. This livestream shows an explosion at about 8pm local time.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The New York Times, Hindustan Times, The Guardian
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: israel hamas, Gaza strip, Hamas, hamas attack, hamas attack israel, israel, israel conflict, israel hamas, israel hamas conflict, israel hamas war, Israelis, Palestine, War, Gaza Hospital, Gaza Hospital attack, Islamic Jihad Group, Gaza Hospital attack Israel, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, Muhammad al-Hindi, Hananya Naftali, terrorist
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