Hisham Al Saedni (Arabic: هشام السعيدني), also known by the nom de guerre Abu Walid al-Maqdisi, was a Palestinian military activist and a Muslim leader and founding member of the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem in the Gaza Strip and he was also leader of al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, a branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza.
[2] On 5 February 2011, Al-Saedni, then also known as Sheikh 'Ahed Ahmad 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Sa'idani, was the leader of a Gazan jihadist group calling itself Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, and posted a fatwa stating that Jews and Christians may be targeted in lethal attacks such as those of 9/11 because they are "aggressive combatants" and "fundamentally not innocent".
[4] Al-Saedni tried to unite all the different groups of Salafi jihadists in Gaza[1] to form and lead the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem.
On 2 March 2011, Hamas authorities in Gaza arrested Al-Saedni for his involvement with the earlier jihad operations of al-Tawhid wal-Jihad allegedly related to the Salafist jihadist movement.
During his detention, in April 2011, Al-Saedni's supporters from al-Tawhid wal-Jihad kidnapped the Italian pro-Palestinian activist Vittorio Arrigoni and later killed him.