- Title: Gazans mourn death of former Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader
- Date: 7th June 2020
- Summary: VARIOUS OF MILITANTS AGAINST BACKDROP OF POSTER
- Embargoed: 21st June 2020 18:35
- Keywords: Gaza Islamic Jihad Israel Ramadan Shallah
- Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City: GAZA CITY, GAZA
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA003CHDF3GN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza mourned on Sunday (June 7) the death of a former leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group who was buried in Syria.
Ramadan Shallah has died after battling illness, al-Manar TV reported on Saturday (June 6). The group said he was buried in Syria on Sunday.
Shallah, 62, served as secretary general of the Iran-backed group from 1995 to 2018.
Al-Manar did not specify the exact nature of the illness.
Labelled a terrorist organisation by the United States, European Union and others, the group has waged attacks on Israel and aims to establish an Islamic Palestinian state.
"By losing Shallah we lost a great national man," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement published by the Palestinian official news agency WAFA.
Shallah was born in Gaza in 1958 and studied in Egypt before earning a Ph.D in economics in the United Kingdom.
He was elected head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad after the killing of the group's former chief, Fathi Shiqaqi, in 1995.
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