Who Is Hamas?

 

Hamas is a radical Sunni Islamist terrorist organization that has been the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Considered the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas was founded in late 1987 as a political rival to the Fatah-led PLO, and its charter commits the group to the destruction of Israel and creating an Islamic state under sharia law in Palestine. The Hamas charter promotes a dark Islamic eschatology that calls for perpetual jihad (holy war) against the Jewish State and people as a first step to regaining Jerusalem and then taking on the “Crusader West” to secure world domination for Islam. Hamas has its main presence in Gaza and broad support in the West Bank, but its senior leadership has been harbored in Qatar for the past decade.

After Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in the 2005 Disengagement, Hamas liquidated the local Fatah leaders and security forces in a bloody coup in 2007. Today, it governs over 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, imposing a strict brand of fundamentalist Islam. Hamas totally rejects any peace negotiations or agreements with Israel, including the Oslo Accords, as well as a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although Hamas presents itself as a Muslim welfare society, the group commits most of its budget to its military buildup, including rockets, weapons, and terror tunnels. The militia group is also known for its many suicide bombings and other terror attacks inside Israel. 

Above content excerpted from: The 2023 War with Hamas: What You Need to Know

Israel's War with Hamas

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, when upward of 3,000 Hamas militants breached the wall between Israel and Gaza and flew in with paragliders, murdering over 1,200 mostly civilians. Israel responded by declaring war, the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur war. 

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