![]() ![]() “If Islamic Jihad didn't respond by throwing hundreds of rockets at Israel it would lose its strength and meaning as a political party,” said Reham Owda, an independent Gaza-based political analyst. Experts say the group's retaliation signals its own sensitivity to Palestinian public opinion. The Israeli military alleged the commanders were were involved in launching rockets against Israel last week in response to the death of a prominent hunger-striking Islamic Jihad leader in Israeli prison. In a surprise attack Tuesday, Israeli warplanes killed three top Islamic Jihad commanders along with wives of two of them and some of their children as they slept in their homes. ![]() “(Hamas) is urging Islamic Jihad to show restraint.” But it's also telling them, there are red lines you can't cross so we avoid a major escalation,” said Skare. “Publicly, Hamas has to support Islamic Jihad. To preserve its reputation as the main Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas has professed support for its heavily armed and rebellious rival through an umbrella group known as the “joint operations room.” But behind the scenes, experts say Hamas is conveying a very different message. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISLAMIC JIHAD IN THIS CONFLICT? ![]() Sensitive to public opinion, the ruling militant group has sought to keep a lid on conflict with Israel that could spark popular anger, cost thousands of Gazans permits to work inside Israel, and deepen the fatigue of a population that already has suffered four bloody wars and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. An 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in May 2021 killed over 260 Palestinians and devastated the territory. In the past, escalations between Israel and the Islamic Jihad have dragged in Hamas, jeopardizing its cash flow from ally Qatar, cutting off supplies to the territory and decimating public services and vital infrastructure. ![]() Islamic Jihad - focused solely on military confrontations - has the most to gain from violence with Israel, while Hamas, as the de facto civilian government, increasingly has the most to lose. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISLAMIC JIHAD?Īlthough Hamas and Islamic Jihad have the shared goal of fighting Israel, key differences have stirred tensions. Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, has cultivated closer ties with Iran. Although it has begun to repair those ties, it also has worked to improve relations with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Hamas ruptured relations with Iran over its support for President Bashar Assad in the devastating Syrian civil war. Some parts have been smuggled through tunnels along Gaza’s southern border and other weapons are locally produced. Over the years, Iran has sent rockets, anti-tank weapons and mortar shells to Islamic Jihad and Hamas, Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency assesses. Iran, the archenemy of Israel in the Middle East, heavily funds Islamic Jihad. The group also maintains a presence in the occupied West Bank, where its militants have attacked Israeli civilians and battled soldiers as violence in the territory surges to heights unseen in two decades. Rather than engage in Palestinian elections or concern itself with social welfare as Hamas has done, Islamic Jihad has kept a singular focus on fighting Israel. Badly weakened in Israel's brutal crackdown in the first uprising, Islamic Jihad later resurged during the second Palestinian uprising in 2000-5, as it orchestrated suicide bombings in Tel Aviv night clubs and other attacks. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected the idea of peace talks and instead remained sworn to Israel's destruction. The founder, Fathi Shikaki, a Palestinian inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran, sought to attract Palestinian nationalists disillusioned by secularism and Islamists disillusioned with what they saw as moderation by the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood movement, said Erik Skare, an author of a book on the group's history and researcher at the University of Oslo.Īfter the first Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s and early 90s, the Palestine Liberation Organization began peace talks with Israel that led to the formation of the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Like the larger and stronger Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad was formed in the 1980s as a radical Islamist movement to resist Israel’s occupation of Gaza. Here's a look at the group that has been exchanging blows with Israel: As it tries to rein in its conflict with Israel and improve the miserable quality of life for the 2 million Palestinians under its control, Hamas has let the smaller Islamic Jihad group take the lead, as it did in a similar round of fighting last summer. But Hamas, the militant group that runs the Gaza Strip, has sat this one out. ![]()
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