What is Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel?

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched its biggest assault on Israel in years early today (7 October), by infiltrating the country and firing thousands of rockets into its southern and central parts from the Gaza Strip. Israel has responded by initiating attacks on Hamas targets in the blockaded coastal enclave. At least 22 Israelis have died and hundreds have been injured in the unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian militant group. Hamas military commander claimed that 5,000 rockets were launched into Israel. “This is the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on Earth,” he declared, as per Al Jazeera.  Responding to the attacks, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said, “We are at war, and we will win”. “The enemy will pay a price it has never known". What is Hamas and how has it been embroiled in conflict with Israel? Let’s understand. What is Hamas? Hamas is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist group that rules Gaza. One of the two major political parties in the region, Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, meaning Islamic Resistance Movement. Its origins date back to the late 1980s after the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip began, as per a BBC report. Hamas was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric, who established the Palestinian Islamist movement as the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza in December 1987, according to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). 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. “The Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood remained on the margins of Palestinian politics for decades till the 1980s and the reason for this was their strategy, which was non-confrontational… They believed they needed to Islamise the Palestinian society and it was a prerequisite for an engagement with the wider battle against Israel. In brief, they didn’t use armed struggle,” Khaled told Al Jazeera. However, after the first Palestinian intifada, Hamas turned into an “adjunct organisation with the specific mission of confronting the Israeli occupation,” the professor reportedly wrote in the book. The group had two purposes initially – an armed struggle against Israel led by Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and organising social welfare programmes for Palestinians, reported BBC.

Contrary to the PLO, Hamas does not recognise Israel’s right to exist.

In 1988, Hamas released its charter that called for the “destruction” of Israel and setting up an Islamic society in historic Palestine, as per the CFR report. ALSO READ: Israel is at ‘war’: How conflict with Gaza escalated after Hamas attack Suicide bombings Hamas is known globally for its armed resistance against Israel. It gained limelight after it objected to the Oslo Peace Accords signed in the early 1990s between Israel and the PLO, a body that represented most Palestinians. The historic deal created limited self-government for parts of the West Bank and Gaza under a new entity – the Palestinian Authority (PA). According to Al Jazeera, Hamas believed that “a two-state solution would forgo the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the historic lands seized from them in 1948 when Israel was created”. The militant group carried out terror attacks against Israel, including bus bombings, that killed scores of people. Hamas increased its violent activities after Israel murdered its chief bomb maker Yahya Ayyash in December 1995, according to the BBC report. Hamas’ suicide bombings are believed to have led to Israel’s withdrawal from the peace process and Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the Oslo Accords, coming to power in 1996, the report added. [caption id=“attachment_13217302” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinian militants celebrate by an Israeli tank at the border fence of the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023 after Hamas launched unprecedented attacks on Israel. AP[/caption] As per Al Jazeera, the peace process also failed because of right-wing Israelis’ reluctance to concede any territory to the PLO and as Israeli settlers “feared it would lead to their eviction from the legal settlements in the occupied territories.” In 1997, Hamas was designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States. The militant group once again launched suicide attacks against Israel during the second intifada between 2000 and 2005. Political power Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza in August 2005, about 38 years after seizing it from Egypt in the Middle East war. Hamas has been a part of the Palestinian political process since then. In January 2006, the Islamist group bagged a majority of seats in the Palestinian legislative election. The following year, Hamas took over Gaza by ousting its rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas in a brief civil war. Since then, the West Bank has been controlled by Abbas’s Fatah party, while Hamas has controlled Gaza. [caption id=“attachment_13217292” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinian supporters of Hamas celebrate their victory in the Palestinian election during a rally in Khan Younis, south of Gaza Strip, on 27 January 2006. Reuters File Photo[/caption] After Hamas ’ victory in 2007, Israel tightened its blockade on the isolated coastal enclave. Besides the US and Israel, Hamas, as a whole or just its military wing, is designated a terrorist group by the European Union, the United Kingdom and some other Western powers. In what observers believed were efforts to soften its image, Hamas released a new document in 2017, accepting the creation of an interim Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. However, it still refused to recognise Israel, as per CFR. Four major wars with Israel Today’s attacks are the largest escalation since May 2021 when Israel and Hamas fought a 10-day war. The conflict led to the death of 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel. It was the fourth big war between Hamas and Israel since 2008. In 2014, Hamas abducted and killed three Israeli teenagers, triggering a seven-week conflict that reported 2,100 Palestinian casualties in Gaza and 73 Israeli fatalities. After Israel killed Hamas’s military chief of staff, Ahmad Jabari, in 2012, the flare-up lasted for eight days. In retaliation to Palestinians’ rocket strikes in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Israel launched a 22-day military offensive in Gaza that caused the death of 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis in 2008. With inputs from agencies