Tawhid al-Jihad (Gaza Strip)
Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin (Arabic: جحافل التوحيد والجهاد في فلسطين, "The Armies of Monotheism and Jihad in Palestine") is a Sunni Islamist Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula, and is the branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza. The establishment of the group was publicly announced on 6 November 2008, with communiqués vowing loyalty to al-Qaeda, after having "received the messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri."[2] Various forms of the "Tawhid al-Jihad" label have appeared in relation to developments in the Gaza Strip. The size of the group is not publicly known.
This article is about a movement in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai. For the defunct Iraqi group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, see Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin
Abu Walid al-Maqdisi (5 February 2011-13 October 2012)[1]
6 November 2008 – present
Gaza Strip, and little in the Sinai
Fatwa allowing the killing of noncombatants
On 5 February 2011, the leader of a Gazan jihadist group calling itself Jama'at Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, Sheikh 'Ahed Ahmad 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Sa'idani, a.k.a. Abu al-Walid al-Maqdisi, posted a fatwa stating that Jews and Christians may be targeted in lethal attacks such as those of 9/11 because they are "aggressive combatants" and "fundamentally not innocent". The fatwa also stated that it is not permissible to refrain from such attacks for fear of hurting Muslims, "because this would mean stopping the jihad".[4] On March 2, 2011 al-Maqdisi was arrested by Hamas. He was released in August 2012 but was killed in an Israeli airstrike two months later.[5]