Hamas, a major Palestinian political party and militant group, rules over two million people in the Gaza Strip. It’s known for fighting against Israel. On 12 October 2023, Hamas surprised the world with a big attack on southern Israel, causing many casualties. Israel responded with a declaration of war and is planning a long campaign.
Many countries call Hamas a terrorist organization, but some only label its military wing as such. Iran supports it with money and supplies, and Turkey shelters some top leaders. Fatah, a rival party that controls the West Bank, is part of the Palestine Liberation Organization and has given up violence. The division in Palestinian leadership and Hamas’s strong hostility toward Israel make stability in Gaza unlikely.
How did Hamas originate?
Hamas, an acronym for “Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya” (Islamic Resistance Movement), was established by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric who shifted from studying Islam in Cairo to activism within local Muslim Brotherhood branches. Starting in the late 1960s, Yassin spread his teachings and engaged in charitable activities in the West Bank and Gaza, regions that came under Israeli control after the 1967 Six-Day War. In December 1987, Yassin formed Hamas as the political branch of the Brotherhood in Gaza, prompted by the start of the first intifada, a Palestinian rebellion against Israeli control of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Hamas’s initial goal was to counter Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which was another group advocating violent resistance against Israel, potentially diverting Palestinian support from the Brotherhood.
In 1988, Hamas published its charter, advocating for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic society in historic Palestine. In 2017, they presented a new document aiming to improve their image, accepting an interim Palestinian state along the “Green Line” border established before the Six-Day War but still refusing to recognize Israel.
Hamas used suicide bombings for the first time in April 1993, just five months before PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords. These accords created a limited self-governing body, the Palestinian Authority (PA), for parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas strongly criticized the Oslo Accords, as well as the mutual recognition between the PLO and Israel, which Arafat and Rabin formalized in letters shortly before Oslo.
In 1997, the United States labeled Hamas a foreign terrorist organization. During the early 2000s, they played a leading role in violent resistance during the second intifada, though Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s Tanzim militia also engaged in violence against Israelis.
Who are its leaders?
Hamas has a range of leadership bodies with roles in politics, the military, and social activities. They have an overarching consultative body, often referred to as the politburo, which sets general policy and operates from outside the Palestinian territories. Local committees handle grassroots matters in Gaza and the West Bank.
Ismail Haniyeh is the political chief now. He took over from Khaled Meshaal in 2017. Since 2020, Haniyeh works in Doha, Qatar, because Egypt limits his travel to and from Gaza. Hamas leaders set up in Qatar after a dispute with Syria in 2011, following Palestinian refugees’ involvement in the Syrian Civil War’s precursor. Some high-ranking Hamas members work from the group’s offices in Turkey.
Yahya Sinwar, who once led Hamas’s military, now oversees daily life in Gaza. He spent twenty-two years in an Israeli prison for planning the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers. In 2011, he was released along with more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Hamas. Issam al-Da’alis serves as Gaza’s de facto prime minister as of June 2021.
Marwan Issa and Mohammed Deif are in charge of Hamas’s military wing, known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. In 2002, Israeli forces assassinated the militia’s founder, Salah Shehadeh, in an airstrike, causing the death of fifteen civilians and drawing attention from Israel and the international community. In 2004, Israeli forces killed Yassin, the founder of Hamas.
Saleh al-Arouri is reportedly the leader of Hamas’s Lebanon branch and also took on the role of the group’s West Bank leadership following internal elections in 2021. Khaled Meshaal was chosen to lead the diaspora office, and Salameh Katawi was elected to manage the affairs of imprisoned Hamas members.
How is Hamas funded?
Hamas faces financial challenges as a designated terrorist group, limiting official assistance from the U.S. and EU, which provide support to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Historically, much of its funding came from Palestinian expatriates and private donors in the Persian Gulf.
The blockade of Gaza by Egypt and Israel, which began in 2006-07, has exacerbated the territory’s already dire economic situation. This blockade restricts the movement of goods and people, leaving over a million Gazan Palestinians reliant on international aid. Qatar has been allowed by Israel to provide substantial assistance through Hamas, while other foreign aid usually reaches Gaza through the Palestinian Authority and UN agencies.
Hamas previously generated revenue by taxing goods moving through tunnels under the Egyptian-Gaza border, which brought essential supplies, cash, and arms. However, the situation changed after Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi took power in 2013, leading to the closure of many tunnels. Egypt began allowing some commercial goods into Gaza in 2018, with Hamas collecting around $12 million per month from taxes on Egyptian imports.
Today, Iran is one of Hamas’s primary supporters, contributing funds, weapons, and training, with an annual contribution of approximately $100 million. Turkey, under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has also backed Hamas politically, although it has faced accusations of funding the group’s terrorism.
How does Hamas get its weapons?
The Gaza Strip is bordered by Israel on two sides and shares a border with Egypt. To the west lies the Mediterranean Sea, where the Israeli Navy enforces a 12-nautical-mile limit to control the movement of people. Despite this strict naval oversight, weapons are occasionally smuggled along the Mediterranean shore by arms traffickers, finding their way to Hamas. It’s believed that a significant portion of Hamas’s weaponry has historically been acquired through sea-based smuggling. Additionally, reports suggest the existence of a secret tunnel network serving as an alternative route for arms smuggling, enabling the transport of weapons like the Fajr-3, Fajr-5, and M-302 rockets from Iran and Syria.
Following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, Hamas established a covert supply route with Iran and Syria through this intricate tunnel network. U.S. intelligence sources have noted that Hamas excels at concealing its weapon stockpiles in tunnels or underground facilities. Over the years, Hamas has also improved its rocket technology, expanding the range of its weaponry, which is reportedly supplied by Iran. This technology has proven effective against Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. While Iran has supported Hamas’s operations against Israel, the country denies direct involvement or funding, in contrast to Israeli claims.
According to a report by a news outlet, Hamas primarily receives funding from Iran, with these funds allocated for weapons and training. Notably, there have been reports of Hamas utilizing U.S.-built weapons left behind by the U.S. Army during their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. This has raised concerns about weapons provided to the Taliban being used by Hamas.
How does Hamas govern Gaza?
Hamas has effectively governed Gaza since shortly after Israel’s withdrawal from the territory in 2005. In the following year, Hamas secured a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) legislature and established a government. Its success was due in part to the social services it provided and as a protest against the incumbent Fatah, which was seen as corrupt and ineffective in its negotiations with Israel. Fatah and its Western supporters found this outcome unacceptable, leading to Hamas’s removal from power in the West Bank. In Gaza, Hamas defeated Fatah’s militias in a week of conflict, causing a political division between the two Palestinian regions. Since 2006, there haven’t been legislative elections, and presidential elections haven’t occurred since 2008.
Hamas assumed control over the remaining PA institutions in the Gaza Strip and implemented an authoritarian system. While, in theory, Hamas governs in accordance with the sharia-based Palestinian Basic Law, similar to the PA, it has often been more restrictive than the law mandates. This has included regulating women’s clothing and enforcing gender segregation in public during the initial years of its rule. According to the watchdog group Freedom House in 2020, the Hamas-controlled government lacked effective and independent mechanisms to ensure transparency in its funding, procurements, and operations. Furthermore, Hamas has been involved in suppressing media in Gaza, curtailing civilian activism on social media, stifling political opposition, and limiting the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This has left the government without mechanisms for accountability.
How do Palestinians perceive Hamas?
The division between the West Bank and Gaza is widely unpopular among Palestinians. A June 2023 poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) revealed that one-third of Palestinians view it as the most detrimental development for their people since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
The same poll indicated that over half of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank would vote for Hamas’s Haniyeh over PA President Mahmoud Abbas in a presidential election. Only one-third of Palestinians would choose Abbas. It’s worth noting that Abbas had indefinitely postponed national elections scheduled for 2021, citing Israel’s alleged refusal to allow Palestinians in East Jerusalem to vote. However, some observers suspect that Abbas may have aimed to prevent a likely Hamas victory.
How has Hamas posed challenges to Israel?
Hamas has been launching rockets and mortars into Israel since it took control of the Gaza Strip in the mid-2000s. Iranian security officials have indicated that Tehran supplied some of these weapons. However, Hamas developed the capability to produce its own missiles after receiving training from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies. In the years leading up to 2023, Israel estimated that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza had amassed around thirty thousand rockets and mortars.
Hamas militants have also used balloons carrying incendiary devices, which have caused fires in Israel. The group has conducted incursions into Israeli territory, resulting in the killing and kidnapping of soldiers and civilians.
Before the 2023 conflict, the deadliest fighting between Hamas and Israel occurred in 2021. This came after weeks of tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem. Some analysts believe that Hamas aimed to bolster its reputation as the defender of the Palestinian cause, especially after the postponement of the 2021 elections by the Palestinian Authority. During the eleven-day conflict, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired more than four thousand rockets from Gaza, leading to the deaths of ten Israeli civilians and injuring over three hundred others. Hamas reportedly coordinated with the IRGC and Lebanon’s Hezbollah during the fighting, deploying suicide drones in addition to its usual arsenal of less precise missiles. A ceasefire was brokered by the United States and Egypt to end the conflict.
How is Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel different from previous attacks?
Hamas’s assault on southern Israel in 2023, known as “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm,” was notable for its strategy, scale, and secrecy. It began on the Jewish Sabbath and an important Jewish holiday, October 7, with Hamas launching thousands of rockets into southern and central Israel, reaching as far north as Tel Aviv. Hamas militants breached the heavily fortified Gaza border, infiltrating Israeli towns and villages, resulting in casualties, deaths, and kidnappings of both Israeli troops and civilians.
Hamas’s military leader, Mohammed Deif, cited reasons for the assault, including Israel’s longstanding blockade of Gaza, its occupation of Palestinian territories, and alleged crimes against Muslims, such as the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
This attack is the deadliest on Israeli soil in decades, leaving a profound psychological impact on the Israeli population. Some analysts have drawn comparisons to the surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001, in the United States. Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly had no prior indications of Hamas planning an assault of this nature.
In response, Israel has declared war on Hamas, escalating air strikes on Gaza and conducting ground operations to remove the group’s militants. The evacuation of civilians from Israeli communities bordering Gaza has been ordered. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu anticipates a “long and difficult war” against Hamas, and Israel’s military response is expected to be substantial, if not unprecedented.
There is speculation about whether Israel might attempt a full-scale invasion and reoccupation of the Palestinian territory, a move that could result in heavy casualties on both sides. Such an invasion could also provoke a significant response from Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, potentially leading to a wider regional conflict.
Iran, which supports Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Palestinian militant groups, presents the risk of a two-front conflict, which would have severe consequences for parts of Israel and much of Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, with the potential for further escalation.
