The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade comprises an unknown number of small cells of Fatah-affiliated activists that emerged at the outset of the second Palestinian uprising or al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000. Al‑Aqsa’s goal is to drive the Israeli military and settlers from the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state loyal to the secular nationalist Fatah ideology. Al-Aqsa employed primarily small-arms attacks against Israeli military personnel and settlers as the uprising spread in 2000, but by 2002 they turned increasingly to suicide bombings against Israeli civilians inside Israel. In January 2002, the group claimed responsibility for the first female suicide bombing inside Israel. After a deadly al-Aqsa bombing in March 2002, the United States designated the group a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Al-Aqsa members operate largely in the West Bank but have also conducted attacks inside Israel and the Gaza Strip. The group has killed US citizens, most of them dual US-Israeli citizens, in its attacks. It has members in refugee camps in southern Lebanon and overseas but has not demonstrated the capability or intent to conduct transnational terrorist attacks.

Al-Aqsa cells operate with autonomy and there are multiple splinter factions, though they remained ideologically loyal to Palestinian Authority (PA) President ‘Arafat until his death in 2004. Recently, Iran has been reported to provide support to various al-Aqsa cells, in order to sustain anti-Israeli attacks.

Al-Aqsa largely suspended anti-Israeli attacks as part of the broader unilateral Palestinian cease-fire agreement during 2005 but resumed attacks following HAMAS’s electoral victory in January 2006. During 2006, al-Aqsa members were responsible for raids on PA political offices and anti-Israeli rocket launches, highlighting their lack of central control. Al‑Aqsa members were among those who battled HAMAS in the Gaza Strip in May and June 2007. Following the HAMAS takeover of Gaza in June and the termination of the HAMAS-Fatah unity government, Israel agreed to extend a conditional amnesty to some 170 al-Aqsa members in the West Bank, guaranteed by the PA, in exchange for their disarmament and a pledge to cease violence. Though broadly popular among Palestinian militants, the program has not yet reduced anti-Israeli violence.