Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday revealed a document recovered from the Gaza Strip acknowledging that Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second-largest terror group after Hamas, knowingly launched rockets that fell inside the Strip.
Islamic Jihad “acknowledged their rockets were falling inside Gaza and killing civilians. They chose to keep firing,” the MFA stated. “These are their values. A terrorist organization that kills its own civilians.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders acknowledged their rockets were falling inside Gaza and killing civilians. They chose to keep firing.
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) January 27, 2026
A senior figure stated: “Even if a thousand are killed by friendly fire, it’s the price of war”.
These are their values.
A terrorist… pic.twitter.com/WqsJ7mMlew
The document, which was discovered by Israeli soldiers in Gaza during the war and first published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center on Tuesday, summarizes a Beirut meeting between a Hamas official and Islamic Jihad leader Akram al-Ajouri.
The senior Hamas official, who goes by the code name Ahmad, was said to have accused PIJ of launching missiles that “fall on people’s homes.”
Al-Ajouri was said to have responded: “Even if a thousand people die from friendly fire, that’s the price of war,” according to the summary.
Islamic Jihad admitted in the same conversation that the Iranian proxy was aware of problems with their rockets, and that PIJ’s “military wing” had produced the projectiles using blueprints it received from Tehran.
On Oct. 17, 2023, an estimated 10 to 50 Palestinians were killed when a faulty rocket fired by Islamic Jihad fell short and hit near Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
Authorities from Gaza’s Health Ministry, which Hamas controls, said that the blast killed 471 Palestinians. The terrorist group immediately blamed the Jewish state, accusing the IDF of targeting the hospital.
More recently, on Feb. 13, 2025, a 14-year-old Palestinian was reportedly killed in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip when a terrorist rocket launched toward Israel fell short inside the coastal enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the attempted attack on the Jewish state, announcing that “a rocket launch was identified” from the Strip.
Unconfirmed video footage posted to social media showed a projectile falling inside a densely populated area shortly after being launched.
