Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem

Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem
Black Standard of ISIL
Leaders	Abū al-Muḥtasib al-Maqdisī ('Abd Allah al-'Ashqar)
Dates of operation	2012 – present
Active regions	Gaza Strip
Part of	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (since 2014)
Allies	Sinai Province Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade
Opponents	State Opponents  Israel  Egypt  Palestine Non-State Opponents Hamas
Battles and wars	Gaza–Israel conflict

The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem or simply the Mujahideen Shura Council (also known as the Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem, in Arabic: Majlis Shura Al-Mujahideen,^[1] Magles Shoura al-Mujahedeen, and other names) is an armed Salafi jihadist group^[2] linked to al-Qaeda^[3] that is active in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and in the Gaza Strip. The group was formed in 2011 or 2012 by Salafist Islamist Hisham Al-Saedni (also known as Abu al Walid al Maqdisi)^[4] to coordinate the activities of the Salafi jihadist groups operating in Gaza even before the Egyptian Revolution of 2011^[5] and has carried out attacks against civilians in Israel.^[3] The group describes violence against Jews as a religious obligation that brings its perpetrators closer to God.^[6] Al-Saedni, who was the leader of the group and also of Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on 14 October 2012.^[7] The group is subordinated with Al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula as of August 2012.^[8]

In February 2014, the group declared its support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.^[9] The group was designated a terrorist organization by the US State Department on 19 August 2014, until the revocation of the designation in March 2022.^[10][11] In its explanation for the designation the State Department noted that:^{[not verified in body]}

the Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem is an umbrella group composed of several jihadist terrorist sub-groups based in Gaza that has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on Israel since the group's founding in 2012. For example, on August 13, 2013, MSC claimed responsibility for a rocket attack targeting the southern city of Eilat, Israel. Previously, MSC claimed responsibility for the March 21, 2013 attack in which Gaza-based militants fired at least five rockets at Sderot, Israel, and the April 17, 2013 attack in which two rockets were fired at Eilat, Israel. In addition to the rocket launches, MSC declared itself responsible for a Gaza-Israel cross-border IED attack on June 18, 2012 that targeted an Israeli construction site, killing one civilian. In addition to these physical attacks, the MSC released a statement in February 2014 declaring support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

One of these sub-groups is Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin^[4] (or al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, "Unity and Jihad") which had been formed on 6 November 2008 and is also linked to Al Qaeda. In 2011 the group was also led by Hisham Al-Saedni.^[12] Another sub-group is Ansar al Sunnah, which has taken responsibility for several rocket attacks against Israel, including a rocket attack in March 2010 that killed a Thai worker in Israel. Following the March 2010 attack, Haaretz reported that the group was "apparently linked to Jund Ansar Allah," another jihadist group operating in Gaza.^[4]