The Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (August 16 –22, 2023)

This past week Palestinians carried out four shooting attacks, two of them deadly. The Israeli security forces continued counterterrorism activities. A laboratory and a warehouse with 15 IEDs ready for use were located in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus,.The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas, continue to develop and improve their rockets and other weapons capabilities. On August 17, 2023, Hamas fired fifty Ayash 250 rockets towards the sea. On two consecutive days the Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted UAVs flying over the Gaza Strip. About a thousand security prisoners began a hunger strike. Sources in Hamas, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA) warned Israel not to harm the prisoners. According to reports, all the operatives of the Balata Battalion in Nablus surrendered to the national security forces. PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh continued diplomatic activity for recognition of a Palestinian state and to enlist international aid. On August 20, 2023, the school year began for Palestinian children.
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Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (August 9-15, 2023)

This past week Palestinians carried out five terrorist attacks; there were no Israeli casualties. Shots were fired at an IDF post near Ya'bad on three different occasions. The Israeli security forces continued their counterterrorism activities, focusing on Jericho, Tulkarm and Nablus; four Palestinians were killed. The Israeli Security Agency recently exposed two terrorist squads. This week the seventh attempt was made to launch a rocket at the settlement of Shaked. The Gaza Strip remains relatively quiet. On a recent visit to the Gaza Strip, senior Hamas figure Musa Abu Marzouq said the most recent meeting of the Palestinian organizations' leadership in Egypt had not yielded results. A summit meeting was held in Egypt attended by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Egypt and the king of Jordan, promising full support for the Palestinian issue. In an unprecedented step, Saudi Arabia appointed its ambassador to Jordan as a non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and consul general in Jerusalem.
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Hamas summer camps in the Gaza Strip

As during the past several summers, Hamas again organized summer camps, attended by about 100 thousand children and teenagers and this year called "Defender of Jerusalem." According to Hamas, the name was chosen to bring the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian national identity to the fore and make the younger generation aware of their importance. The summer camps provided three types of programs and activities: military and semi-military training, ideological indoctrination and Qur'an studies and memorization. The Hamas summer camps are organized by the Supreme Summer Camp Committee, headed by senior Hamas figure Muhammad Abu Askar. The committee launched a Facebook page for the camps but it was active for only a few days before it was removed or blocked. Therefore, unlike previous years, there is relatively little documentation of the camps' activities. In addition symbols and logos of Hamas and the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, its military-terrorist wing, have been blurred or downplayed. Also unlike other years, so far there has been no information about the camps' final date or closing ceremony, which in the past were attended by senior Hamas figures and received widespread media coverage
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Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (August 2-8, 2023)

This past week Palestinians carried out four terrorist attacks: three shootings (in Tel Aviv, at the Hamra Junction in the Jordan Valley and in Ma'ale Adumim) and a stabbing south of Hebron. A municipal security patrol officer was killed in the shooting in Tel Aviv. Israeli security forces continued their counterterrorism activities, focusing on the Nur al-Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm and the Jenin area. The Gaza Strip remains relatively quiet. Thanks to funding from Qatar, this past week the fourth turbine was activated at the power plant that supplies electricity, increasing the hours of electricity in several areas. Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Jordan at the head of a delegation of senior Palestinian Authority (PA) figures and met with King Abdallah of Jordan.
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Israel attacked by rockets fired from Judea and Samaria: analysis and significance

On July 27, 2023 the Telegram channel of the Hamas-affiliated al-Ayash Battalion announced its operatives had fired a Qassam 1 rocket from the Jenin area at Ram-Ohn, an Israeli moshav 8 km (5 miles) south of the northern Israeli city of Afula. Following the publication of the video, Israeli security forces and demolitions experts searched the area and located the remains of an improvised rocket which had fallen in Palestinian territory Since May 2023, it was the sixth al-Ayash Battalion claim of responsibility for firing rockets at Israel and the fifth time rocket remains have been found. So far the rockets have not caused damage and the attacks have been used to make propaganda capital. For many years, the terrorist organizations, especially Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), have been trying to copy Gaza's tactics in Judea and Samaria, aspiring to establish similar rocket capabilities. So far, the improvised rockets appear relatively primitive and have limited capabilities.
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Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (July 19-25, 2023)

This past week Palestinians carried out five terrorist attacks: two shooting attacks; two stabbing attacks and a vehicular ramming attack. A stabbing attack was prevented near Kiryat Arba. IDF forces continued counterterrorism activities, focusing mainly on the Nur al-Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm, where IEDs ready for detonation were seized. Two Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.In preparation for Tisha b'Av, Hamas called on the Palestinian public to "resist" the plan of Jewish worshipers to enter the Temple Mount.The Gaza Strip remains relatively quiet. The Palestinians terrorist organizations continued improving their rocket capabilities. Preparations continued for the meeting of the leadership of the Palestinian organizations expected in Cairo at the end of July 2023. Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Turkey for an official visit, heading a delegation of senior PA officials, for meetings with the Turkish and other government officials.
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