Explained: What Is Islamic Jihad Group, Blamed By Israel For Gaza Hospital Bombing

A massive explosion ripped through a hospital in Gaza, killing at least 500 people on Tuesday. The incident sparked global outrage and demonstrations in several Muslim-majority countries. Israel and Palestine exchanged blame for the incident, which US President Joe Biden denounced while en route to Israel.

While the Israeli army pinned the blame on a "misfired rocket" by Palestine's Islamic Jihad group, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says Israel was behind the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist hospital.

But what is the Islamic Jihad group?

The Beginnings

Designated as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an ally of Hamas, violently opposes the existence of Israel. 

The group's founders, Fathi Shaqaqi and Abd al-Aziz Awda, were 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 felt that the Brotherhood was not fully committed to the Palestinian cause. 

Taking inspiration from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini-led Iranian revolution, Shaqaqi and Awda created an offshoot group with the sole objective of militant destruction of the Israeli state. 

In 1981, the Egyptian government exiled PIJ, which had split from the Muslim Brotherhood, to Gaza after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981. 

Operations In Gaza 

The PIJ functions as a decentralised, compartmentalised organisation that typically prioritises attacking Israel, while avoiding the prominent social, welfare, and political roles played by other Islamic extremist groups in the region like Hamas, Fatah, or even the Lebanon-based Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

Their first successful strike is thought to have been in Gaza, the killing of an Israeli military police captain in August 1987, a few months before the first Palestinian intifada.

While in Gaza, the Islamic Jihad killed an Israeli military police captain just a few months before the start of the First Intifada in 1987. 

In the same year, they were expelled to Lebanon where the Islamic Jihad built a strong relationship with Hezbollah and even received arms training from Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Two years later, Shaqaqi established the group's official headquarters in Syria's Damascus where they continue to operate to this day. 

Relationship With Hamas

Unlike Hamas, the Islamic Jihad does not carry out any form of social service in Gaza nor does it intend to fight for political office or intend to open diplomatic channels with Israel. 

The one thing that is common between the two groups is the fact that both oppose Israel. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have often coordinated militant operations in the Palestinian enclave. 

However, there have been times when Hamas, ironically, has cautioned the Islamic Jihad against attacking Israel. The Islamic Jihad, on most occasions, acts independently. Primarily focused on military confrontations, there have been times when the Islamic Jihad has taken the front seat while Hamas remained on the sidelines during clashes with Israel.

Relationship With Iran 

The Iranian Revolution's sphere of influence in its first decade was confined to Shi'a groups in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gulf Emirates. It failed to make headways in countries with a majority Sunni population nor did its fundamentalist ideas entice Islamic militant groups.

While Shaqaqi and Awda drew inspiration from the Iranian Revolution, Iran did not pay it any heed. Ayatollah Khomenei and Iranian leaders remained steadfast in propagating Shi'ite values without focusing on Sunni-dominated nations.

However, a change occurred. In the late 80s, after the end of the Iran-Iraq War, Iran decided to export its fundamentalism to countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, and more importantly, Palestine -- coinciding with the First Intifada. And after Israel kicked the Islamic Jihad to Lebanon, the group came under direct influence of Iran.

According to the US State Department, it is Iran that funds the Islamic Jihad's budget, exactly like it reportedly does for Hamas and Hezbollah. The US also blames the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria for providing a safe haven to the group in Damascus. 

Attacks Carried Out By Islamic Jihad 

The Islamic Jihad's modus operandi includes suicide bombings targetting Israeli civilians and military personnel. 

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 a Haifa restaurant killing 22 and injuring 60.

Along with other suicide bombings, the Islamic Jihad also works with Hamas to launch rockets into Israel.