TEL AVIV – If Hamas does not cease its crackdown on ISIS supporters in Gaza, the backers of the movement that has taken over half of Syria and one-third of Iraq will violate a truce with Israel and carry out more rocket attacks against the Jewish state, a leader of the jihadist organization that represents ISIS in Gaza told WND.
Tuesday, supporters of ISIS in the Gaza Strip provided WND with a video they say proves they launched a rocket from the Gaza Strip that hit central Israel last week.
The video, with an ISIS flag in the upper left corner, shows a rocket and launcher burrowed in sand. The next scene contains footage of the rocket being launched followed by Arabic news reports about the attack.
The video, sent to WND by a senior Salafist leader tied to ISIS, was produced under the banner of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which represents ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula and now claims a foothold in Gaza.
The Gaza branch calls itself the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade.
The authenticity of the rocket launch in the video as well as the ISIS allies’ claim of responsibility for the attack could not be immediately verified.
The Hadid Brigade of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, the group that produced the video provided to WND, also released a statement claiming responsibility for assassinating a senior Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, leading to a major Hamas crackdown on ISIS supporters in Gaza.
Now a leader of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in Gaza has told WND that if Hamas does not cease its crackdown, the group will not only continue to target Hamas, it will also break the Israel-Gaza truce with more attacks launched against the Jewish state.
Ansar Bait al-Maqdis released a list of demands to Hamas:
- The release from Hamas jails of all ISIS-allied “mujahideen, preachers, students, detainees and abductees.”
- An end to what the group claims is Hamas’s “media incitement”” and “war of lies and distortions” against ISIS supporters.
- Granting to the Salafist Islamists their “legitimate rights,” including the right to bear arms and carry out advocacy and social and relief work to the Palestinian people.
See the video produced by ISIS supporters in Gaza: