OVERVIEW

The Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a Sunni Islamist militant group seeking to establish an Islamist Palestinian state that is committed to the destruction of Israel. It is the second-largest militant group in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, founded in 1979 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The group has drawn inspiration from the Iranian revolution and receives support from Iran, Syria, and Lebanese Hizballah. PIJ’s military wing, al-Quds Brigades, has been responsible for many attacks on Israeli targets since the 1990s. PIJ sometimes operates in coordination with HAMAS, although the groups have had a tense relationship because PIJ occasionally disagrees with HAMAS’s strategy for confronting Israel.

OPERATING AREAS
Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank; maintains a presence in Lebanon and Syria and offices in Tehran

MEMBERS
Most sources estimate 1,000 members

TACTICS AND TARGETS
PIJ primarily employs small-arms and mortar and rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israeli targets in Israel and the West Bank. The group conducted suicide bombings from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. It also has man-portable air defense systems, mortars, armed unmanned aircraft systems, antitank guided missiles, and IEDs.

FOREIGN TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The US Department of State designated PIJ as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997 and designated PIJ’s Secretary General Ziyad al-Nakhalah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2014.