Fatah in Gaza Joined Oct. 7 Attacks Without Knowledge of Mahmoud Abbas

Jerusalem, 5 November, 2023 (TPS) -- New attention is being drawn to video posted on social media by Fatah terrorists in Gaza bragging that they joined Hamas in its October 7 attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

The video in question was posted on the Telegram channel of the Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch on Oct. 7, the day of attack. It shows members of the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claiming that they have taken over “temporary” settlement of Nahal Oz and have killed soldiers and taken military equipment.

The video was exposed by Palestinian Media Watch on Friday.

The just over one-minute-long video featured the logo of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades while distorting the faces and voices of the terrorists to hide their identities.

It opened with terrorists wearing Fatah’s yellow armbands firing Kalashnikov rifles at an Israeli kibbutz. It cut to a terrorist boasting about plundered military equipment, then graphically shows a Fatah terrorist stamping on the head of a murdered Israeli.

The video then cuts to another terrorist saying, “Allahu Akbar and praise Allah… From the heart of these temporary [Israeli] settlements, Allah willing, we had a prominent and clear role.”

Fatah and Hamas are rivals, and Fatah’s presence in Gaza has been relatively small ever since Hamas violently seized control of the Strip in 2007.

But Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, told the Tazpit Press Service, the two have been competing over fights Israel more.

“Each claims that one side fights and the other speaks about fighting,” Marcus told TPS. Therefore, as soon the attacks began, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades had to belatedly join the fighting and post its “accomplishments.”

Marcus added that Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who also heads Fatah, “Was not aware of the planned attack by Hamas.”

He stressed, “There is a connection between the Fatah movement in Bethlehem and the Brigades. This is proven through a connection between the leaders of the branch in Bethlehem and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Gaza. And the fact that video was posted by the Fatah Bethlehem Telegram branch shows connections between the Brigade and the Political side of Fatah.”

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades emerged during the Second Intifada, gaining notoriety for its involvement in terror attacks including suicide bombings and shooting attacks.

Marcus told TPS that the video has not been widely reported in the Western media because journalists don’t have a grasp of how Palestinians use social media.