The Mujahideen Brigades (Arabic: كتائب المجاهدين, romanized: Kataeb Al-Mujahideen)[a][15] is the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement (Arabic: حركة المجاهدين الفلسطينية, romanized: Haraka Al-Mujahideen Al-FilisTynya).[5] The General Secretary of the group is Dr. Asad Abu Sharia (Arabic: أسعد أبو شريعة).[4] They are a relatively small group.[7] The group is ideologically more extreme than Hamas, but much smaller.
History
The organization was founded in 2006 by Omar Abu Sharia (Arabic: عمر أبو شريعة).[2][1]
The Mujahideen Brigades are the military wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, they split from the Fatah Movement, and its forces represent a former brigade in Fatah's militant wing the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which was called the Brigade of the Martyr Jihad Al-Amarin (Arabic: الشهيد جهاد العمارين) before the schism.[16]
Soon after the split they called themselves "Al-Aqsa Brigades - Mujahideen Brigades", and then they became "Mujahideen Brigades", and later "Palestinian Mujahideen Movement - Military Wing of Mujahideen Brigades".[17]
They joined the 7 October attacks initiated by Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades military wing.[6] On their telegram channels they published videos and photographs of themselves attacking a military base and a kibbutz, fighters posing with a dead IDF soldier in full combat uniform.
They were largely ignored by the media for the first few months of the war, until their videos were broadcast by Arabic language news channels like Al Jazeera Mubasher and Al Araby TV. Propaganda videos from the Mujahideen Brigades used a blue triangle to highlight targets,[21][22][23] in place of the red triangle used in videos made by the Qassam Brigades.[24][25][26]
On 23 November the homes of the Al-Hasayna (Arabic: الحساينة) and Abu Sharia (Arabic: أبو شريعة) families were destroyed in an airstrike [ar], that allegedly killed 93 Palestinians (Arabic: وليد زيارة).[27][28] Neither side acknowledged a possible target, and only civilians casualties were reported.[27][28]
Kidnapping of the Bibas family
Shiri Bibas and her two young children, Ariel and Kfir, were abducted from KibbutzNir Oz on 7 October 2023. Kfir was less than one year old at the time and the youngest hostage held by Gaza's militant factions. The IDF claimed they were kidnapped by Hamas, but then said were held by "another group" after they were excluded from the 2023 Israeli–Palestinian prisoner exchange in November 2023.
In November 2023, Mujahideen Brigades stated on social media that the Bibas family was in their custody.[29]
Then on 29 November, during hostage negotiations, Hamas claimed Shiri Bibas and her children had been killed in an Israeli air strike while in captivity. [30] In January the IDF said they were not sure if the trio were being held by Hamas.[31] On 19 February, the IDF presented a video showing Shiri and the children still alive several days after the abduction. The video was apparently filmed in southern Gaza.[32]
The group holding the Bibas family was shown to be the Mujahideen Brigades based on CCTV footage found in Khan Younis.[14][33][34]
↑ 7.07.1Fabian, Emanuel (20 February 2024). "IDF finds video of Bibas family in Gaza, 'very concerned' for mother, youngest hostages". www.australianjewishnews.com. Retrieved 21 July 2024. The IDF spokesman said the clips are from a Khan Younis military post belonging to the Mujahideen Brigades terror group, a relatively small armed faction in the Gaza Strip that is somewhat allied with the coastal enclave's Hamas rulers.
↑"كتائب المجاهدين" من أبرز فصائل المقاومة في حرب غزة..ماذا تعرفون عنها؟ ["Mujahideen Brigades" is one of the most prominent resistance factions in the Gaza war, What do you know about it?]. موقع نبض nabd.com (in Arabic). صدى نيوز. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024. Quote in Arabic: "كتائب المجاهدين"، تعتبر الجناح العسكري لحركة المجاهدين الفلسطينيين المنشقة عن حركة فتح، وتُمثل قواتها لواء سابقا بكتائب شهداء الأقصى، وهو لواء "الشهيد جهاد العمارين".
↑"كتائب المجاهدين" من أبرز فصائل المقاومة في حرب غزة..ماذا تعرفون عنها؟ ["Mujahideen Brigades" is one of the most prominent resistance factions in the Gaza war, What do you know about it?]. موقع نبض nabd.com (in Arabic). صدى نيوز. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024. Quote in Arabic: وهذه الحركة خرجت من رحم حركة فتح، وبدأ مشوارها كمجموعات عسكرية عرفت باسم كتيبة المجاهدين بقيادة المؤسس الشهيد عمر أبو شريعة (أبو حفص) مع بداية انتفاضة الأقصى، وفي العام 2006، تغيّر اسمها إلى "كتائب المجاهدين" كجناح عسكري مستقل لـ"حركة المجاهدين" الفلسطينية.
↑ 19.019.1Annika Ganzeveld, Ashka Jhaveri, Johanna Moore, Alexandra Braverman, Kathryn Tyson, and Brian Carter; Ashka Jhaveri, Johanna Moore, Alexandra Braverman, Kathryn Tyson, and Brian Carter; Johanna Moore, Alexandra Braverman, Kathryn Tyson, and Brian Carter; Alexandra Braverman, Kathryn Tyson, and Brian Carter; Kathryn Tyson, and Brian Carter; Brian Carter (16 April 2024). "IRAN UPDATE, APRIL 16, 2024". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 21 July 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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