EXCLUSIVE – Islamic State Suspected of Abducting Gaza Businessman to Fund Terror With Ransom Money

Jihadists associated with the Islamic State terrorist group are suspected of abducting a local Gazan businessman and holding him for ransom that would then be used to finance IS activity in the Gaza Strip, a security official in Gaza has told Breitbart Jerusalem.

Businessman Wesem Briqa was abducted last week by armed men in the north of the Gaza Strip. After a few days, he was found in a home in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, but according to Palestinian security personnel, the kidnappers succeeded in fleeing before Hamas forces raided the home where Briq was being held.

The security source said that investigations are ongoing even though Briqa was freed. Over the course of the inquiry, Hamas received information regarding jihadists who were involved in the abduction.

Hamas forces raided the home of a suspected kidnapper near Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip and found a number of armed men. The most significant of those arrested was Sami Tanira, considered a senior Salafist theoretician and IS philosopher in the Gaza Strip responsible for religious rulings that encouraged local young people to join the ranks of the Islamic State.

Tanira has been wanted by Hamas security forces for over a year. The source noted that the alleged IS demand for ransom from Briqa’s family is considered an escalation in the jihadist organization’s activities. The source said that during the raid on the home where Tanira was found, a number of weapons were also discovered alongside an explosive belt.

The source confirmed that one of those arrested in the home was a Hamas member who joined IS.

The source said that the goal of the abduction, aside from demanding ransom, was to make the Gaza Strip appear unsafe and cause anarchy:

We are just before the holiday of al-Fitr (the holiday that marks the end of the Ramadan month of fasting), and we believe that the kidnappers, in addition to money, wanted the abduction to be the news of the day during Ramadan and the holiday in order to portray the Gaza Strip as abandoned territory without security and in order to portray Hamas as having lost control in the Strip and as lacking the ability to handle the jihadist organizations and IS organizations, which would have made it easier for young people to join IS. This is an illusion and can’t be allowed to happen.