GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On May 25, it was announced that a 21-year-old Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip was killed during a battle in Syria while he was fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). The story revived the debate about the presence of Salafist groups in Gaza, the breadth of their activities and the priorities to fight in the framework of their military ideology.

The ISIS-affiliated Jihad Media Forum posted a mourning statement about the young man, Wadih Nafedh Wash, from Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. “From the blessed land of Sham, and in full delivery to God’s justice, the Sheikh Abu al-Noor al-Maqdisi Brigade informs you that [our] brother Wadih Nafedh Wash, an immigrant soldier in the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, was martyred in the battle of dignity that is raging on the ground of Sham,” the statement read.

Al-Monitor spoke with Wadi’s father, Nafedh Wash, about how his son died. Nafedh said that his son was killed during a battle between ISIS and Syrian regime forces in Deir el-Zor, Syria.

“My son left Gaza to Egypt about nine months ago through an underground tunnel,” he said. “When he was in Egypt, he then informed me via a mobile phone message that he and his comrades were going to fight in Syria for ISIS, which he had joined three years ago.”