Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. Hamas is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has fought several wars with Israel since it took power in Gaza in 2007. In between those wars, it has fired or allowed other groups to fire thousands of rockets at Israel and carried out other deadly attacks.
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Hamas’ 1988 founding charter called for the destruction of Israel, although Hamas leaders have at times offered a long-term truce, or Hudna in Arabic, with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.
However, Hamas has never recognized Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and has refused to renounce violence. Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organization that has garnered worldwide attention due to its complex history, political aspirations, and involvement in conflicts with Israel.
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Established in 1987 during the First Intifada, Hamas has evolved into a multifaceted entity with both a social service wing, known as Dawah, and a military wing called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Hamas was founded in the turbulent backdrop of the First Intifada, emerging as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Interestingly, its Gaza branch had initially maintained non-confrontational relations with Israel and hostility towards the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
The founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, articulated the group’s primary goal: to liberate Palestine, including modern-day Israel, from Israeli occupation and establish an Islamic state encompassing Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s organizational structure is complex, with a division between its political and military wings. While the group maintains that these wings are separate, experts argue that they are interdependent for political and strategic reasons.
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