Displaying items by tag: PIJ

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) recruit, train and use children as fighters. It is a war crime and a human rights abuse to use children in armed conflicts. Israel is experiencing increased terrorist aggression in the West Bank, and Palestinian children are being killed. On Monday Ahmed Saqer died during a Palestinian and IDF gunbattle. Palestinian media said he was throwing rocks. Palestinian terror groups described Ahmed as a ‘fighter’. Could he have been throwing deadly munitions not rocks? On his TikTok account is a video of him posing next to a PIL flag. Another video showed a dozen pipe bombs inside his home. Regardless of what he was throwing, it was a difficult situation for Israeli forces to deal with. On Tuesday, two Palestinian teens died when an explosive device they were carrying detonated. A third person was critically wounded. There are many more incidents of children dying in battles.

On 10 May militants fired 507 rockets and mortars at Israel, and Israel struck 158 Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targets in Gaza. Twenty-five people have died and 76 injured in Gaza since 9 May, when Israel began its operation against PIJ with a series of strikes which killed three of its commanders. The PIJ is responsible for many recent rocket attacks on Israel. On 11 May Israel's military killed the commander of the PIJ and two other militants in a pre-dawn air strike on an apartment in Gaza. Later Israel’s sirens sounded as 10 mortars were fired from Gaza at Israeli communities in southern Eshkol. Some hit homes and buildings, but most landed in open areas or were intercepted. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned, ‘Israel's campaign is not over. We have hit PIJ with the most significant blow it has ever suffered’. PIJ threatened ‘dark days ahead' if Israel increased aggression.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is backed by Iran, and its headquarters are in Syria. From 5 to 7 August it fired 600 rockets and mortars into Israel. Israel retaliated with jets, drones, helicopters, tanks, artillery and elite commando units against PIJ military bases, weapon production sites, rocket launching sites, and observation posts. Two PIJ cells were hit, killing twelve operatives and several civilians. Israeli military called this operation Breaking Dawn and said it could last a week. At 11.30 am on 7 August a truce was called. Israel had inflicted significant losses on PIJ in those three days, including killing two senior commanders. By the 11th a further eight individuals with ties to terrorism were arrested in Gaza. PIJ was still insisting on the release of prisoners from Israeli jails, warning that their continued custody was grounds for violence to breakout again.

Iranian-backed Hamas and PIJ are the two largest groups in the Gaza Strip, but they are not trying to improve the living conditions of their people. They have brought war and destruction on the strip by firing rockets towards Israel, forcing Israel to strike back to defend itself. Instead of building schools and hospitals, the leaders have invested tens of millions of dollars in a tunnel network along the border to attack and kill Jews. Hamas and PIJ leaders don’t live in Gaza; they lead luxurious lives in Doha, Istanbul, and Beirut, and call Palestinians to pursue the fight against Israel from their gyms, jets, and jacuzzis. Some have finally realised that their leaders care only about their personal interest and the well-being of their families and are enjoying the good life. Pray for Palestinians to remove their leaders and move forward with their lives.