The Palestinian Joint Operations Rooms

Who are they composed of? How do they function?

The coordinated attacks of the Palestinian armed factions on 7 October showed strong coordination and military cooperation between all Palestinian military brigades. Both in Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian military brigades have linked up in a strong military and operational partnership through the creation of Joint Operations Rooms in both Gaza and the West Bank.

The idea of creating a Joint Operations Room was first proposed in 2006, with an initial collaboration between the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades in the Gaza Strip, an inter-organizational coordination headquarters that would establish the general rules, confrontation mechanisms, and military direction of operations against Israel. After a few attempts between 2014 and 2016, the Palestinian Joint Operations Room in Gaza emerged in July 2018, followed in 2022 by the emergence of a Joint Operations Room in Jenin, West Bank, known as the 'Belt of Fire', formed by the al-Quds Brigades and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which evolved into the “Hornet’s Nest Operations Rooms” with the entry of other brigades into it over the past year.

These Joint Operations Rooms aim to achieve a strong unity of all fronts of resistance, unifying the efforts of the struggle for the “liberation of Palestine”. The idea was to develop a link and coordination of all operational military forces in all arenas and on all fronts. The Operations Rooms’ foundation was intended to coordinate and train thousands of fighters from all the Brigades and manage numerous separate military sites and training camps that needed coordination, services and problem-solving.

This analysis will show the two operations rooms and the military brigades that are part of them.

The Joint Palestinian Operations Room

The Joint Operations Room to date comprises 12 Palestinian armed groups operating under the leadership of the al-Qassam Brigades and is based in the tunnels of the Gaza Strip. The participating armed groups of different ideologies and political affiliations include:

1. Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades (military wing of Hamas)

2. Al-Quds Brigades (Palestinian Islamic Jihad military wing)

3. Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades (military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine)

4. The Brigades of the National Resistance Martyr Omar al-Qassim (military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine)

5. The Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (military wing Popular Resistance Committees)

6. Mujahidin Brigades (military wing Palestinian Mujahidin Movement)

7. Martyrs of al-Aqsa Brigades (military wing al-Fatah)

8. Jihad Jibril Brigades (military wing Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command)

9. Army of al-'Asifa (al-Fatah military wing).

10. Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini Brigades (al-Fatah military wing)

11. Ayman Jawda Squads (al-Fatah military wing)

12. Al-Ansar Brigades (military wing of the Palestinian Freedom Movement/al-Ahrar)

The Ayman Jawda Squads did not participate in the military operations of the al-Aqsa flood of 7 October and have not been active militarily and propagandistically in the last three months.

Fig. 1 - The logo of the Palestinian Joint Room in Gaza

The operations room has operational-military characteristics that have led to a clear unity and convergence of Palestinian resistance groups. The objectives of the operations room are: to form a united resistance front to fight the Israeli occupation, to coordinate the activities of the different Palestinian resistance groups, to develop a single political authority, to strengthen the logistical capabilities of the Palestinian resistance, to reinforce the armed forces with reserves and stocks of missiles, weapons, etc, carrying out joint training and reinforcement activities, coordinating the conduct of joint attacks, expanding military activity to other areas, including the West Bank (through the military brigades with numerous battalions in the West Bank within the Operations Room), preparing the ground for the formation of the “United and Unified Palestinian Army”.

Fig. 2 - A picture of the Joint Palestinian Operations Room coordination room in Gaza.

The joint operations room, although controlled by the al-Qassam Brigades, always undertakes military operations through collective and coordinated decisions. It meets before and during battle. It conducts the confrontation by consulting and coordinating at the highest level regarding the force to be applied, the timing, scale and scope of operations and the participation of the various organizations. The various military wings of the Joint Operations Room, however, have their sources of political authority that consult internally on the decision to enter or not to enter the conflict. There are standing committees of various brigades and areas within the Joint Operations Room.

Fig. 3 - A photo of a joint briefing in the Palestinian Joint Operations Room in Gaza.

The Palestinian Operations Room, which has also set up a headquarters and military site in the tunnels under the Gaza Strip since late 2022, has opened and held numerous joint training courses for instructors and fighters and has also held several exercises. Fighters from all brigades carried out numerous joint exercises in different modalities, day and night attacks, urban guerrilla warfare, anti-tank operations, underwater operations, special military operations, direct assaults, use of IEDs, rescue operations, etc. provided constant communication, coordination and services to all members, both routinely and during emergencies and escalation cycles, situation and intelligence assessments, supply of weapons according to specific forces, logistical support, military knowledge of field commanders, joint training courses for military instructors from the different military wings.

Fig. 4 and 5 - Preparation of joint military exercise in Gaza.

For the past three years, at the end of each year, the Joint Operations Room has organized a military exercise in which all military brigades belonging to it participate. The annual military drills, known as “Firm Support” have been repeated every year and have seen the fighters united and in a joint manner from all Brigades holding drills involving numerous contexts and types of weapons use (many of which we are currently seeing in the defence of Gaza, such as the use of RGP-7s to target Israeli tanks, the use of IEDs against Israeli Bulldozers, sniping operations, mortar operations and rocket firing).

Fig. 6 and 7 - Some types of joint military exercises in Gaza.

The activities and preparedness of the Palestinian Joint Operations Room are not limited to purely military operations, but also to those concerning the defence of civilians, services and civil administration, including Gaza’s internal security forces, to deal with numerous types of emergencies affecting the civilian population.

Fig. 8 and 9 - Some types of civilian disaster relief exercises.

Hornet’s Nest Operations Room

The main groups that founded the operations room were initially the Islamic Jihad faction formed by the Jenin Battalion and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades belonging to the al-Fatah political faction. Initially, the Battalion operated as a West Bank extension of the al-Quds Brigades and operated, like the other Brigades autonomously in defence against Israeli incursions. Over the years, the military formations in Jenin have become increasingly coordinated and less politically affiliated. As political affiliations and ideologies have taken a back seat to the primary military objective of protecting Jenin, the Hornet’s Nest Operations Room has become an umbrella coalition for a heterogeneous set of armed groups coordinating to defend Jenin. Military Brigades in the Operations Room include:

1.     Al-Quds Brigades;

2.     Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades;

3.     Al-Qassam Brigades;

4.     Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades;

5.     Mujahidin Brigades;

6.     Martyr Omar al-Qasim National Resistance Brigades;

7.     Al-‘Asifah Army.

In addition to coordinating military defence operations, the Operations Room has also created a special joint military force that operates without badges, armbands and colours representative of their Brigades or political factions. Videos and photos of their military operations are often published.

Fig. 10 - The Special Forces of the Hornet's Nest Operations Room

Conclusion

The presence of Joint Military Operations Rooms has indeed strengthened the capabilities of the Palestinian resistance as it has improved coordination and cooperation. Certainly, the greatest impact is that of the Gaza Joint Operations Room. Having encompassed twelve military brigades from different political factions and ideologies has allowed for a marked improvement in the Palestinian resistance's capabilities to repel and confront Israeli attacks. Furthermore, the Palestinian groups in the Joint Operations Room have integrated their capabilities including missile and weapons stockpiles, and, as a result, the quantitative and qualitative improvement of missile attacks on key targets in depth. Another significant aspect is that the military collaboration also led to a strong unity among all factions, including the political ones, further strengthening the resistance itself, and creating important preconditions for the post-conflict.

The analysis appeared on 10 March 2024 on Akhbar al-Aan Media TV.https://www.akhbaralaan.net/news/special-reports/2024/03/10/

Daniele Garofalo is a researcher and analyst on Jihadist terrorism and an expert in monitoring Jihadist media channels.

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