PHOTO: A burnt-out car in Gaza City in one of Sunday’s explosions blamed on the Islamic State (Mohammad Abed/Reuters)


Prospects of an Islamic State war with the Palestinian organization Hamas were raised on Sunday by five car bombings in Gaza which are being blamed on the militants.

The cars exploded in a 15-minute period on Sunday morning in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. Three of the cars reportedly belonged to members of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, and two to members of the al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad. There were no casualties.

No group claimed responsibility. Abu Hamar, a commander in Hamas’ security forces in Gaza, blamed the Islamic State and called for a response.

In May, Hamas said that Islamic State sympathizers in Gaza are on social media, but that the group has no foothold in the Palestinian territory. A spokesman said,

There is nothing called the Islamic State in the Gaza Strip”, adding that the group only had “some supporters” in the territory.

We do not fight people because of what they think, but at the same time, we do not allow any violations of security, whether by groups or individuals.

There has been a series of explosions in Gaza since last summer; however, Sunday was the first time that Islamic Jihad has been targeted.

Some of the attacks have been been claimed by groups saying they are an Islamic State branch in Gaza, although these have been questioned on on-line militant forums.