Hamas, Hezbollah & Intifada: A guide to understanding the glossary of Israel-Palestine conflict

The worst combat in 50 years continued in southern Israel for a third day as Israel’s military attempted to regain territories that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas invaded on Saturday early morning. Israel formally declared war on Sunday, portending greater fighting ahead, and a possible ground assault into Gaza — a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Around 700 people have been killed in Israel — a staggering toll by the scale of its recent conflicts. Nearly 500 have been killed in Gaza. Palestinian militant groups claimed to be holding over 130 captives from the Israeli side, as per The Associated Press. Here are several terms related to the Israel-Palestine conflict that are crucial for you to understand: Hamas Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist group that rules Gaza. Established in 1987, It is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, meaning Islamic Resistance Movement. It was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric who established the Palestinian Islamist movement as the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood (founded in Egypt in the 1920s), according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). In addition to Iran, Syria, and the Shia Islamist organisation Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas is a member of a regional alliance that largely opposes US Middle East policy as well as Israel. Hamas opposed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his book, Hamas: A Beginner’s Guide, Khaled Al Hroub, professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwestern University Qatar, described Hamas as “the internal metamorphosis” of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood that emerged in Jerusalem in 1946, as per Indian Express. Hindustan Times reported Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 after a brief civil war with forces allied to the Fatah movement, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank and also serves as the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). They even won last Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. Since then, there have been repeated rounds of clashes with Israel, frequently involving missile attacks from Gaza into Israel by Hamas and Israeli airstrikes and shelling of Gaza. In addition to vehemently rejecting the Oslo peace accords, which Israel and the PLO negotiated in the middle of the 1990s, Hamas refuses to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. Israel, the US, the EU, Canada, Egypt, and Japan have declared the group a terrorist organisation. [caption id=“attachment_13223012” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Smoke rises from an explosion on the Islamic National Bank following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, at Gaza City. AP[/caption] Operation Iron Swords Israel’s Operation Iron Swords is retaliation for a surprise attack by Hamas, reported Business Today. The Israeli military claimed to have retaliated by attacking Gaza with airstrikes. Witnesses claimed to have heard powerful explosions and saw numerous people being rushed into hospitals while injured and dead. Israeli military officials said that navy forces killed scores of Palestinian militants who were attempting to enter Israel by sea. All of the assailants who have snuck into Israel and are attacking both Israeli defence personnel and civilians are taken into consideration by Operation Iron Swords. “The IDF will protect the residents of the State of Israel, the terrorist organization Hamas will pay a very heavy price. The public is asked to obey the orders of the Home Front Command to stay near protected areas, and residents of the Gaza Strip are asked to stay in their homes,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated earlier.

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Hezbollah Hezbollah, which means “party of god,” is a Shia militant group supported by Iran. It was established in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to resist Israeli forces that had invaded Lebanon and spread the Islamic Revolution. It recruited among Shia Muslims in Lebanon, who shared the philosophy of Tehran’s Shia Islamist movement. The Palestinian parties Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as other organisations supported by Iran in the area have close relations to Hezbollah. The US and several countries have regarded the group as a terrorist organisation. According to Hindustan Times, the group has grown from a covert faction that emerged during Lebanon’s 1975–1990 civil war to a powerful entity that holds authority over the Lebanese state. In order to combat Israeli forces occupying the primarily Shia south, Hezbollah preserved its weaponry after the civil war ended. After years of conflict, Israel withdrew its forces in 2000. Later, the group stormed into Israel during a five-week conflict in 2006. They captured troops and others to show off its military prowess. 158 Israelis, primarily military, and 1,200 Lebanese civilians were killed in the conflict. According to the report, its military increased after its deployment in Syria in 2012 to support President Bashar al-Assad in his battle against primarily Sunnis. In relation to the latest barbaric attack, Hezbollah claimed that it was in “direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance.” Gaza Strip Gaza Strip is a 41-kilometer long by 10-kilometer width region, with a population of over 2.3 million, between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea, according to News18. With a continuous human population of more than 3,000 years, Gaza City served as a meeting place for several prehistoric cultures. The Prophet Muhammad’s great-grandfather is thought to have been buried there. The people living in the Gaza Strip are Palestinians, comprising both indigenous settlers and numerous refugees who fled to Gaza from Israel during Israel’s creation in 1948 and later military battles between Israelis and Palestinians. [caption id=“attachment_13223052” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] An Israeli soldier works on a tank at a staging ground near the Israeli Gaza border, southern Israel. AP[/caption] It has been ruled by the militant Islamist party  Hamas  since 2007. The organisation opposes the peace process with Israel and, in its charter, demands for Israel’s destruction. For years, the Hamas terrorists have fired rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory, but the 7 October onslaught is a shocking escalation of the long-running dispute. West Bank With 5,860 square kilometres, the West Bank is a part of Israel that is far larger than the Gaza Strip, News18 explained. Three million Palestinians live in the Palestinian territories. It spans across Israel’s eastern border along the west banks of the Jordan River and covers the majority of the Dead Sea, which is how it got its name. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Having had to defend the nation in six major wars, the IDF, which was founded in 1948, is one of the world’s most combat-proven armed forces. According to Hindustan Times, its primary responsibilities include bolstering the peace agreements, ensuring overall security in the West Bank in collaboration with the Palestinian Authority, leading the fight against terrorism both within Israel and beyond its borders, and maintaining a deterrent capability to stop hostilities from breaking out. Yom Kippur War The 1973 Arab-Israeli War was an armed conflict that took place between Israel and a coalition of Arab nations led by Egypt and Syria from 6 October to 25 October 1973. As Syrian troops crossed into the Golan Heights and Egyptian troops reached the Sinai Peninsula, a war broke out in the Middle East. After Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, the forces hoped to retake lost land and persuade the Israeli government that a long-term peace agreement was required, according to the History channel.

Though Israel was originally outnumbered and unprepared for the fight, it was able to launch a counteroffensive and win the conflict, regaining the Golan Heights The Yom Kippur War brought the Soviet Union and the US closer to a potential nuclear exchange as each nation supported its allies following failed attempts to propose ceasefires, explained Hindustan Times. According to the State Department, the Soviet Union then started resupplying weaponry to Syria and Egypt, and a few days later, the US did the same for Israel. Israel was widely criticised for its lack of preparation prior to the attack, and despite it gained many territories. This was because it also suffered numerous casualties. Judaism’s holiest day of the year is Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement. Al Aqsa Mosque Hamas says the latest barbaric attack on Israel marks the beginning of “Operation Al-Aqsa Deluge,” according to The Times Of Israel. NDTV cited a recorded statement by the group’s military commander, Muhammad Deif as saying, “Today the people are regaining their revolution.” Al-Aqsa mosque is considered the third holiest by the Muslims, after Mecca and Medina. The mosque is situated on a hill known to Jews as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims internationally as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. This place lies in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, as per Reuters. It is also home to two Muslim holy places - the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Qibli Mosque, which was built in the 8th century AD. One of the holiest sites for Jewish prayer, the Western Wall, is visible from there. According to legend, King Solomon from the Book of Genesis built the first temple 3,000 years ago. Israel conquered the location in 1967 during the Middle East War. The Reuters study said that Israel afterwards “annexed it along with the rest of East Jerusalem and adjacent parts of the West Bank in a move not recognised internationally.” Israel and Gaza have always been at odds over the mosque dispute. More than 200 Palestinians and 10 Israelis were killed in a 10-day conflict in 2021 as a result of fighting between the two sides, according to the New York Times. Israeli police officers and Palestinians engaged in a fight in April of this year, which resulted in a firefight across the border. More than 350 people were detained and evacuated from the property before the conflict was reported, according to the news agency. Waqf personnel reported that police had evacuated the facility using shock grenades and rubber bullets. It took place during the sacred month of Ramadan. “Israel’s raid into Al-Aqsa mosque, its assault on worshippers, is a slap to recent US efforts which tried to create calm and stability during the month of Ramadan,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted as saying. Iron Dome The air defence system on land used by Israel is called Iron Dome. It is created to stop and destroy short-range rockets, mortars, and artillery shells that are launched from ranges of four to 70 kilometres, reported India Today. The anti-missile system is particularly effective against projectiles with low altitude and slow motion. Over 5,000 successful intercepts of rockets, mortar rounds, artillery shells, aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at extremely close range have demonstrated the system’s combat preparedness to date. Two Israeli companies, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, developed the Iron Dome in 2011, with major assistance from the United States. According to the report, it operates using three key components – a radar that detects incoming rockets, a command-and-control system that recognises the threat level, and an interceptor that seeks to destroy the incoming rocket before it strikes. The computers in the control centre determine whether populated regions are at risk from the missile and the Iron Dome system determines whether infrastructure or human lives are. If so, the launcher, which has 20 interceptor missiles, fires a missile. Despite being quite effectice, the Iron Dome is not intended to provide protection against all dangers. It shields a constrained area against less capable projectiles. Beginning in early 2011, the Iron Dome system was initially installed at air force sites in southern Israel. It was eventually established in other places, such the town of Sderot, following substantial escalations near the Gaza border. Intifada According to Al Jazeera’s Palestine Remix, the Arabic word for revolt, intifada, literally translates as “shaking off” and is used to refer to one in the context of Palestine. In December 1987, the First Palestinian Intifada broke out in Gaza after an Israeli truck crashed into two vans carrying Palestinian employees, leaving four Palestinians dead. Conflicts that followed quickly spread to the remaining occupied Palestinian territories. The report explained the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising, a grouping of Palestinian political factions devoted to putting an end to Israeli occupation and achieving Palestinian independence, was in charge of the Intifada, which was predominantly carried out by youth. Israel responded harshly, shutting down universities, expelling activists, and demolishing homes. The world community was compelled to look for a peaceful solution by the Intifada as well. The Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, putting an end to the Intifada. Thousands of Palestinians were hurt, and 1,500 died as a result of Israel’s suppression of the Intifada. Ariel Sharon, the head of the Likud opposition party, paid a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on September 28, 2000, while tens of thousands of security personnel were stationed in and around Jerusalem’s Old City. This marked the beginning of the Second Intifada, sometimes known as the “Al-Aqsa” Intifada. During the first two days, there were 200 injuries as a result of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli authorities. An extensive armed rebellion in the Palestinian Territories under Israeli occupation was brought on by the tragedy. Israel started constructing its separation wall and reassumed control over regions previously ruled by the Palestinian Authority. Over 50,000 people had been injured and nearly 5,000 people had died as a result of Palestinian violence by the end of 2008. With inputs from agencies