Who are the military spokesmen of the Palestinian armed groups?
Who are the military spokesmen of the Palestinian armed groups?
On 7 October 2023, the military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, in coordination with other Palestinian armed factions based in the Gaza Strip, belonging to the “Palestinian Joint Operations Room” (read here for more details on the Palestinian Operations Room) launched the military operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’, a surprise attack against positions, military bases and kibbutzim in Israeli territory and Israeli-occupied areas. The attacks were simultaneous and coordinated, using different types of operations: thousands of rockets, air raids with ultralight aircraft, direct assaults, maritime assaults, etc. After the military attacks, the dissemination of propaganda and audio or video messages by the military spokesmen of the different Palestinian armed groups also began.
Not all military spokespersons of the 14 brigades showed up or issued communications. The most militarily operational Brigades, whose spokesmen's messages were published, are the following:
Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades (military wing of Hamas);
The al-Quds Brigades (military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad);
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (military wing of al-Fatah);
Mujahidin Brigades (military wing of the Palestinian Mujahidin Movement);
The Omar al-Qassim National Resistance Brigades (military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine);
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades (military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine);
The Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees).
Abu Ubaydah al-Qassam (military spokesman of the al-Qassam Brigades).
We have the most information and propaganda on the spokesman of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, Abu Ubaydah
His speeches dominate social networks and messaging apps, with thousands of views and shares of his audio and videos. His face is not known, he always wears a red Palestinian keffiyeh. The war name Abu Ubaidah is derived from the “Conqueror of Jerusalem”, Abu Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah, who lived during the reign of Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab.
Some sources claim that Abu Ubaidah was born in the village of Na'aliya, occupied by Israel in 1948, and lived until 2014 in Jabalia, in north-east Gaza
Abu Ubaidah began appearing in the media in 2002 as one of the most senior activists in the field and a military officer in the Al-Qassam Brigades.
After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Abu Ubaidah was officially appointed spokesman of the al-Qassam Brigades. Abu Ubaidah first appeared on-screen on 25 June 2006, to announce the news of the successful conclusion of the ‘Shattered Illusion’ operation east of the city of Rafah, in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured.
According to Israeli and Arab reports, Abu Ubaidah received a master’s degree in 2013 from the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion at the Islamic University of Gaza with the thesis: ‘The Holy Land between Judaism, Christianity and Islam’.
Abu Ubaidah appeared frequently over the years to narrate the military developments of the al-Qassam Brigades, with speeches that contained many messages of condemnation towards the “Israeli occupation”. His fame has increased considerably since June 2020 and in the following years for some strongly anti-Israel videos. The first dates back to June 2020, when Israel decided to annex the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, claiming that this decision by the Tel Aviv government was like “a declaration of war”.
Since 7 October, he has appeared every day, except on truce days, to comment on the military successes of the al-Qassam Brigades. The videos in which Abu Ubaidah appears are always very similar and end with the phrase “And it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom”, which is the phrase of the martyr Ezzedin al-Qassam.
The other military spokesmen active in the conflict
Abu Ubaydah is certainly the best-known and most important among the military spokesmen of the Palestinian brigades. There are also other spokesmen, of whom little information is available, although they are very active and their speeches/statements are widespread.
Certainly the second most important is Abu Hamzah (, military spokesman of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad). Almost nothing is known about him, the only information is that he was already a military spokesman in 2007, and there is no news of his previous videos. It is also known that he is active in Gaza as a spokesman and with sermons in Gaza mosques. Finally, he is among the Palestinian fighters on the wanted lists of the Israeli intelligence forces.
On the other hand, Abu Muhammad is the military spokesman of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the military wing of al-Fatah. All that is known about him is that before 2012 he was the spokesman of the “Imad al-Amoudy Martyrs Battalion”, a battalion of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades operating in the West Bank. He became the Brigades’ main spokesman in May 2012, when he announced the unification under one umbrella of all al-Aqsa battalions operating in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
As far as the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are concerned, the military spokesman of the Gaza Section “Nidal al-Amoudi” who has often shown himself on video in recent months, is Abu Jihad. The latter deals with militant statements of what is happening in Gaza.
Abu Bilal is instead the military spokesman of the Mujahideen Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement. Very little is known about him either, since once he became spokesman, around 2011, he chose to live in secrecy and concealment and his statements are only transcribed. In 2022, he declared that the Mujaheddin Brigades' only objective and military strategy is “to liberate all of Palestine and purify it from the abomination of the Zionists”.
In February 2022, the Mujahidin Brigades also appointed the military spokesman of the “Occupied West Bank”, Abu Omar, who is responsible for the statements of the Nablus and Jenin Battalion (Unit of the Martyrs of the Occupied Land).
Abu Khaled is the nom de guerre of the spokesman, but also military commander, of the Martyr Omar al-Qassim National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). Nothing is known about his identity or personal life. The little information is provided by the brigade's Telegram channel, which identifies him as spokesman and commander, a role he has held since around 2012. He resigned from his post in 2022 due to controversy over the DFLP's participation in the Palestinian Central Council, which has been cooperating with Israel since 2018 by coordinating security in parts of the West Bank, withdrawing his resignation a few days later.
Very little is known about the last two military spokespersons we have seen and heard in the last 8 months, such as Abu Jamal, 2014 military commander and the army spokesperson of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Marxist Leninist political movement of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (FPLP),
and of Abu Attayya, spokesperson since about 2018 of the al-Nasser Salahaddin Brigades (, of whom there are several videos, photos and audio on the channel and the brigade’s website.
Daniele Garofalo is a researcher and analyst on Jihadist terrorism and an expert in monitoring Jihadist media channels.
Support my research, analysis and monitoring with a donation here PayPal.Me/DanieleGarofalo88