Israel eliminates Palestinian Mujahideen Movement chief Assad Abu Sharia

On June 7, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet intelligence agency announced the targeted elimination of Assad Abu Sharia, aka Abu al Sheikh, the head of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement (PMM) in the Gaza Strip. Sharia played a central role in the October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel and the subsequent hostage crisis.

According to the IDF and the Shin Bet, Sharia was eliminated on Saturday morning in Gaza City. The IDF identified him as a key figure in the infiltration of Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attacks, who was directly involved in the abduction and murder of Shiri Bibas and her children, Ariel and Kfir. He also participated in the kidnapping of Gad Haggai and Judi Lynn Weinstein Haggai, Thai national Nattapong Pinta, who was later murdered in captivity, and another unidentified foreign national still held hostage in Gaza.

As the head of PMM, Sharia was responsible for recruiting terrorist operatives in the West Bank and within Israel, and he played a pivotal role in advancing and directing terror activity against Israeli civilians and forces, the IDF and Shin Bet said. Under his leadership, the PMM remained active throughout the war, orchestrating attacks against Israeli targets and engaging in combat with IDF troops operating inside Gaza.

In a separate strike, Israeli forces also eliminated Mahmoud Muhammad Hamid Kuhail, another PMM operative who infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attack. Kuhail was one of the terrorists involved in holding the Bibas family hostage in the Gaza Strip during the early stages of the war, the IDF and Shin Bet noted.

Following the announcement of Sharia’s death, the PMM issued an obituary confirming its leader’s demise.

“With further submission and acceptance of God’s will and destiny, and in continuation of the path of jihad and resistance, and on the path of the righteous martyrs, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement announces to the Islamic nation and our Palestinian people the martyrdom of the great jihadist leader Sheikh Dr. Asaad Abu Sharia (Abu al-Sheikh), one of the pillars of jihad and resistance in Palestine,” the PMM stated.

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement (also known as the Mujahideen Brigades) is a relatively small but longstanding Palestinian terrorist group based in the Gaza Strip. Its origins trace back to the early 2000s when the group emerged as a splinter faction from Fatah’s al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The group was originally led by its founder, Omar Attia Abu Sharia, also known as Abu Hafs. However, an Israeli airstrike on October 14, 2006, critically injured Hafs and killed PMM commander Rajai Ahmed al Labban. Hafs died from his injuries on April 24, 2007, while seeking treatment abroad. Following his death, Assad Abu Sharia assumed the duties of secretary-general of the group.

Among the notable activities of the PMM before the war was the recruitment of a Bedouin Israeli to spy on the IDF. On July 7, 2022, Israeli security officials announced that Shehadeh Abu Alqian from a village near Hura in the Negev was recruited by operatives of the PMM in Gaza to join the IDF to collect intelligence, photograph military infrastructure, and steal weapons.

According to the Shin Bet, Alqian enlisted in the IDF in May 2022 and began his basic training. During his service, he reportedly photographed sensitive military sites and compiled a list of Bedouin soldiers serving in the army, intending to pass this intelligence to the terror group. Alqian also stole an M4 rifle, allegedly to transfer it to operatives in Gaza. The Shin Bet arrested him on May 30, 2022.

Joe Truzman is an editor and senior research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian armed groups and non-state actors in the Middle East.