| Battle of Rafah (2009) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Salafi jihadist insurgency in the Gaza Strip | |||||||||
&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Location_Rafah.png) Location of Rafah in the Gaza Strip | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Islamic Emirate of Rafah |
 Hamas | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Abdel Latif Moussa † Abu Abdullah al-Suri † |
Khaled Mashal Ismail Haniyeh Abu Jibril Shimali † | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Jund Ansar Allah | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
100+ militants |
Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
15 militants killed 40 militants arrested |
 6 police officers killed[1] | ||||||||
 5 Palestinian civilians killed 150 Palestinian civilians wounded[citation needed] | |||||||||
The Battle of Rafah (2009) took place between Hamas and Jund Ansar Allah in the Rafah Governorate of the Gaza Strip.[2] Fighting between the two Palestinian militant organizations broke out on 14 August 2009, when Jund Ansar Allah's founder Abdel Latif Moussa denounced the Hamas government for supposedly failing to enforce Islamic law and for "not being any different from a secular government" since it ousted Fatah during the Battle of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. He subsequently proclaimed the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Rafah and swore allegiance to al-Qaeda. In total, 26 people were killed and 150 were wounded during the conflict, including an 11-year-old Palestinian girl.[3] Moussa was killed in Rafah on 15 August 2009, triggering the collapse of Jund Ansar Allah and the Islamic Emirate of Rafah.
- ^ "Islamist leader dies in Gaza battle". Al Jazeera.
- ^ Islamist Leader Said to Be Killed in Shootout. The New York Times. 15 August 2009.
- ^ "Hamas: Leader of al-Qaeda-inspired group committed suicide". Ynetnews. Associated Press. 15 August 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2023.