The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a radical Islamic terrorist group formed in 1979 by Fathi Shaqaqi and Palestinian students in Egypt. The PIJ split from the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, which it viewed as overly moderate.
Group members were expelled by Egypt to the Gaza Strip in the early 1980s in light of their ties to the assassins of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
The PIJ is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and creation of an Islamic Palestinian state in its place.
The group has carried out numerous attacks against Israeli targets, including high-profile suicide attacks. Israel assassinated Shaqaqi in 1995 in Malta.
Despite its ideological affinity to Hamas, PIJ is a much smaller organization and does not offer a social services network. The group is headquartered in Syria and receives most of its funding from Iran.
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