The Palestinian Joint Operations Room, officially Joint Room for Palestinian Resistance Factions, is a Gaza-based joint front and command institution for the military wings of various Palestinian factions. It includes armed groups from various backgrounds, and ideologies from both the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

and the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

, including

Islamists Islamism is a range of Religion, religious and Politics, political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is su ...

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

nationalists Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, Id ...

, and others. The Joint Operations Room is managed from the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

, but forms a single battlefront against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

from wherever Palestinian militant forces are located, without being confined to a specific geographic area.

Background

The operations room was formed for the first time in 2006 in order to unite against Israel during clashes and wars and included

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

and the Islamic Jihad Movement, but it fell into obscurity. It was then developed, expanded, and was formed under its current name on July 23, 2018, among 12 military wings after clashes around Al-Aqsa Mosque, the most prominent of which was the installation of electronic gates there by Israel, in what is considered Israeli-occupied

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

. It currently consists of 12 different armed groups, and has coordinated a large number of attacks on Israel including the

October 7 attacks On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

, and has also coordinated defence and retaliations against Israeli attacks. Ayman Nofal said that the goal of the room was to create an inter-organizational alliance to coordinate operations, and increase the potential of the "Palestinian Resistance", and for it to "become a comprehensive framework for all the organizations, networks and fighters, without exception". He also gave a list of the 9 factions out of 12 which he said were "fully unified under the room".

Activities

In 2019, the operations room launched its first military operation in response to the dismembering of the body of a Palestinian fighter on the Israel-Gaza border by Israeli forces, consisting of shelling and rocket fire into Israel. Since 2020, the operations room has coordinated annual training exercises for military factions in the Gaza Strip, modeling

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

and ground attacks on Israeli military installations and Kibbutzes. The exercise also included coordinated artillery fire, test rocket launches into the Mediterranean Sea,

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

warfare drills, and

military diving Underwater divers may be employed in any branch of an armed force, including the navy, army, marines, air force and coast guard. Scope of operations includes: search and recovery, search and rescue, hydrographic survey, explosive ordnance disp ...

. The trainings modeled maneuvers similar to those seen in the 7 October attack on Israel in 2023. In mid 2024, the operations room accused the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

of collaborating with Israel on its intelligence efforts in Gaza.

Members

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...

(PIJ) *:

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

(PFLP) *:

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and Maoist organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya (). It is a member ...

(DFLP) *:

Popular Resistance Committees The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC; , ''Lijān al-Muqāwama al-Shaʿbiyya'') is a coalition of a number of armed Palestinian groups opposed to what they regard as the conciliatory approach of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Isra ...

(PRC) * (ex-

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

, no longer aligned with it) *

Mujahideen Brigades Mujahideen Brigades () is an armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement (). The brigades operate in the Occupied Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and The West Bank, including Jenin. The Mujahideen Brigades operate indepen ...

: ( Palestinian Mujahideen Movement) *

Al-Ansar Brigades Palestinian Freedom Movement () is a Palestinian militant political party. Initially known as Fatah al-Yasir (), the organization was created by former Fatah members after the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The party was led by ( ...

(

Palestinian Freedom Movement Palestinian Freedom Movement () is a Palestinian militant political party. Initially known as Fatah al-Yasir (), the organization was created by former Fatah members after the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The party was led by ( ...

) *: (

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command () or PFLP-GC is a Palestinian nationalist militant organisation based in Syria. It is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It was founded in 1968 by A ...

(PFLP-GC) Ex-Fatah groups not mentioned by Nofal: * Ayman Jawda Squads *

Abdul al-Qadir al-Husseini Brigades The Abdul al-Qadir al-Husseini Brigades (), named after the Abdul Qadir al-Husayni, is a military branch of Fatah in the Gaza Strip. It has a relationship with the Al-Quds Brigades and the Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades. History After ...

* Al-Assefa Army

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2018 establishments in Palestine Anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine Axis of Resistance Coalitions Gaza–Israel conflict Gaza war Joint military units and formations Military units and formations established in 2018 Palestinian militant groups Palestinian nationalism Rebel alliances