Jihadist group demands release of members

A Salafi Jihadist group demanded the Hamas-led Palestinian government release members of its group to fight against what it calls the “Jewish usurpers of the Palestinian land,” on Sunday. The demand follows Israel's assassination of one of the leaders of the Mujahideen Shura Council, in Holy Jerusalem, during an air strike on Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip. On Sunday morning the Mujahideen Shura Council organised the funeral of 47-year-old Hesham Ali Al Saedani, who assassinated in the Israeli raid. A spokesman for the group said: “We demand the security services in Gaza Strip stop chasing members of the Salafist Jihadist and release the group’s detained members.” “Hamas should give the Mujahideen the opportunity to train and prepare themselves to fight the Jewish usurpers of Palestine,” added the spokesman during a press conference held in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. The Salafist Jihadist group urged the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to restore stolen weapons from the Mujahideen, to be fair and to protect people's rights. The group also called on the nation's scholars to intervene to encourage Hamas to rule using the law of God (Sharia) and to adjust its security services. The Israeli army issued the following in a statement: "The Israeli Air Force targeted Hesham Ali Al Saedani who was born in 1965 and lives in Bureij in the Gaza Strip. He is one of the founders of the Mujahideen Shura Council, which works under the umbrella of the global jihad and participated in terrorist operations against civilians and the Israeli army."