While Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are facing death and destruction as a result of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), an association of extremist Islamic theologians affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, has issued a fatwa (Islamic ruling) calling for jihad (holy war) against Israel.
The IUMS, a largely Sunni group founded in 2004, consists of some 95,000 Muslim “scholars” globally and 67 Islamic organizations. It included among its members the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed by Israel in an explosion last year in Iran.
