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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Salafi jihadists begin hunger strikes amid ongoing Hamas arrest campaign |
| 2013-04-06 |
| Hamas appears to be continuing its arrest campaign against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip. According to a statement released yesterday by the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center on jihadist forums and the Center's Facebook and Tumblr pages, a Salafi jihadist was detained by Hamas forces near Khan Yunis on the evening of April 3. The jihadist had reportedly been arrested a number of times in the past by Hamas for his Salafi affiliation. Yesterday's arrest is part of an "extensive campaign" by Hamas to arrest Salafi jihadists, the statement charged. According to the statement, Hamas has intensified the campaign in the wake of recent rocket attacks by the al Qaeda-linked Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC). On April 2, the MSC claimed to have fired five rockets from Gaza toward Israel. The following day, the group said it had fired six additional rockets toward Israeli territory. According to the MSC, the rocket fire was in response to the recent death of Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Hamas operative. Hamdiyeh, whom Hamas praised for supplying "the Mujahideen with weapons and explosives," died of esophageal cancer at an Israeli hospital on April 2. |
| Posted by:tipper |