Terrorist groups - home based:
Army of Islam (AOI): aim(s): stage attacks against Israel and Egypt from the Gaza Strip and, ultimately, establish an Islamic emirate in the region area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza; heaviest presence and operational activity is in the Gaza Strip, from where operatives have a history of launching low-impact rockets into Israeli and Egyptian territory; kidnapped and subsequently released an American and New Zealander in Gaza working as Fox News journalists in 2006 and kidnapped and subsequently released a British journalist in 2007; rocket attacks have ebbed in recent years; most of the group's kidnappings are either for ransom or to negotiate with HAMAS to release AOI members from incarceration; membership was estimated in 2017 to number in the low hundreds; note—the Army of Islam (Jaish al-Islam, JAI) in Syria under Zahran ALLOUSH is unrelated to AOI
HAMAS: aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel with the intent to lift Israel's blockade surrounding the Gaza Strip and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza, where in 2006 HAMAS won the Palestinian legislative Council election in the Gaza Strip and took control of the ruling Palestinian Authority Government; Yahya al-SINWAR was elected in February 2017 in an internal election to head the Gaza Political Bureau; al-SINWAR leads with his deputy, Khalil al-HAYYA; HAMAS has an official political bureau in Qatar; launches rockets frequently into Israel from the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in numerous long-running lethal conflicts between HAMAS and Israeli forces; has dug numerous underground tunnels leading into Israel; uses its primary media outlet, Al-Aqsa TV, to indoctrinate children in the Gaza Strip to become armed fighters and suicide bombers upon reaching adulthood
Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC): aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza; although present in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Israel, MSC was assessed in 2017 to be largely defunct; had previously conducted numerous rocket attacks on Israeli territory; majority of veteran members have defected to join other armed groups
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ): aim(s): enhance its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip to launch attacks inside Israel to destroy it; create an Islamic state in all of historic Palestine, as defined by the British Mandate, which includes the Gaza Strip area(s) of operation: stages rocket attacks against civilians and military personnel primarily in southern Israel; Akram AJURI is the supreme commander over the al-Quds Brigades, PIJ's armed wing; assessed in 2017 to have less than 5,000 members based in the Gaza Strip
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF): aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel in order to establish a secular, Marxist Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital area(s) of operation: based in Gaza; maintains a recruitment and limited paramilitary training presence in most of the refugee camps across the Gaza Strip; assessed in 2015 to have fewer than 500 members
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): aim(s): destroy the state of Israel and, ultimately, establish a secular, Marxist Palestinian state area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza, recruiting and training fighters; stages limited attacks against Israel
PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC): aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities to prepare fighters for deployment to Syria and to launch occasional attacks inside Israel; ultimately, seeks to establish a Palestinian state area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza; as a longtime supporter of the Syrian Government, the group trains and deploys fighters to Syria to fight on behalf of President Bashar al-ASAD; provides training for pay to other armed groups, including HAMAS; stages occasional small-scale attacks inside Israel

Terrorist groups - foreign based:
Abdallah Azzam Brigades (AAB): aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel to continue its attempts to disrupt Israel's economy and its efforts to establish security area(s) of operation: launches homemade rockets from the Gaza Strip into populated Israeli territory, primarily Nahariya and Ashkelon; operates as the Marwan Haddad Division
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AAMB): aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, establish a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem area(s) of operation: stages attacks in the Gaza Strip against Israeli soldiers and civilians inside Israel, including launching rockets and missiles into Israel; claimed in 2015 to have fired more than 500 rockets and missiles into Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense, the week-long Israeli Defense Force operation in Gaza; former leader Zaki al-SAKANI was released in late 2016 from HAMAS's custody in the Gaza Strip, where he had been held since 2008, only on the condition that he leave the Gaza Strip; since al-SAKANI's imprisonment, AAMB has operated under a decentralized power structure, with each cell reporting to a local leader
ISIL Sinai Province (formerly Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis): aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, establish a regional Islamic caliphate area(s) of operation: stages attacks against Egyptian forces along the Gaza Strip-Egypt border and launches rockets into southern Israel from the border closest to Israel; moves fighters and supplies through underground tunnels that connect the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula