Hisham Al Saedni ( ar, هشام السعيدني), also known by the nom de guerre Abu Walid al-Maqdisi, was a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

military activist and a Muslim leader and founding member of the

Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem or simply the Mujahideen Shura Council (also known as the Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem, in Arabic: Majlis Shura Al-Mujahideen, Magles Shoura al-Mujahedeen, and other names) is an ...

in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

and he was also leader of al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, a branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza.

Early life

Al-Saedni was born in Gaza in around 1965. He lived in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. He fought for Al Qaeda in Iraq.

wanted to arrest him due to his alleged involvement in attacks against Egypt's tourist sites.

Terrorist activities

On 5 February 2011, Al-Saedni, then also known as Sheikh 'Ahed Ahmad 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Sa'idani, was the leader of a Gazan jihadist group calling itself

Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad ( en, Group of Monotheism and Jihad), which may be abbreviated as JTJ or Jama'at, was a Islamic extremist Salafi jihadist terrorist group. It was founded in Jordan in 1999 and was led by Jordanian national Abu Musab al ...

, and posted a fatwa stating that

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

may be targeted in lethal attacks such as those of 9/11 because they are "aggressive combatants" and "fundamentally not innocent". The fatwa also stated that it is not permissible to refrain from such attacks for fear of hurting

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, "because this would mean stopping the jihad". Al-Saedni tried to unite all the different groups of Salafi jihadists in Gaza to form and lead the

. On 2 March 2011,

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...

authorities in Gaza arrested Al Saedni for his involvement with the earlier jihad operations of al-Tawhid wal-Jihad allegedly related to the Salafist jihadist movement. During his detention, in April 2011, Al Saedni's supporters from al-Tawhid wal-Jihad kidnapped the Italian pro-Palestinian activist

Vittorio Arrigoni Vittorio Arrigoni (; 4 February 1975 – 15 April 2011) was an Italian reporter, writer, pacifist and activist.Johnston, NicoleVittorio Arrigoni: The man I knew. ''Al Jazeera''. 15 April 2011. Arrigoni worked with the pro-Palestinian Intern ...

and later killed him. He was released in August 2012, but was killed in an Israeli airstrike two months later.

Death

Hisham Al Saedni was killed on 13 October 2012 by an

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...

strike together with Ashraf Al Sabah who was also a Salafist. The attack occurred on a busy street in the Jabalia district of Gaza City. Israel said it was responding to an earlier rocket attack on southern Israel.BBC News: Israel Gaza - Air strikes leave four dead in 24 hours
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saedni, Hisham 2012 deaths Palestinian Islamists 1965 births Members of al-Qaeda in Iraq Leaders of Islamic terror groups