2023-10-12 06:17:21
Hamas supporters at a rally in Gaza in April 2022. Image: Mohammed Talatene/dpa/picture alliance
The radical Islamic organization Hamas has launched a violent surprise attack against Israel, the largest in years of conflict. Here is an explanation with the most important data about this extreme group.
Hamas is an extreme Islamist group of Palestinian origin. He does not recognize the State of Israel and, according to his own statements, wants to destroy that country. Germany, the European Union (EU), the United States and some Arab countries consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
The radical organization was founded in the 1980s, and distances itself from Yasir Arafat’s opposition Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Unlike the PLO, Hamas denies Israel’s right to exist.
Likewise, Hamas is made up of several military groups, including the Qassam Brigades, which have carried out numerous attacks and suicide bombings against Israel in recent years. The organization also includes a political party and humanitarian aid organizations.
Many dead in the Second Intifada
Israel and the PLO began the so-called Oslo peace process in 1993 and recognized each other. Hamas, on the other hand, did not recognize this historic step and continued to carry out terrorist attacks in Israeli territory until today.
The Israeli army moved into cities that are under Palestinian self-rule under the Oslo Accords, including Ramallah. In total, more than 1,000 Israelis and more than 3,000 Palestinians died during the Second Intifada (Source: Shin Bet/B’Tselem).
Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007
On January 25, 2006, the Islamist group Hamas emerged victorious in the parliamentary elections. In 2007, the organization took control of Gaza after intense fighting against the Fatah movement. Since then, there has been an internal political division in Palestine. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian Authority, dominated by the Fatah party, governs the partially autonomous territories of the West Bank.
Israel subsequently declared the Gaza Strip “enemy territory” and intensified its extensive isolation, which continues to this day. Until now, Israel and Egypt (in part) control land, sea and air access.
Following a clash with Israeli security forces on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in April 2022, Hamas supporters express their solidarity with the Palestinians.Image: Mohammed Talatene/dpa/picture alliance
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Much of the population lives in great poverty and depends on humanitarian aid. From that strip, Hamas continued its attacks against Israel, declared by the organization as “legitimate defense”, and has so far engaged in four armed conflicts with the Israeli army: 2008/09, 2012, 2014 and 2021.
The first war in Gaza
Israel’s blockade policy and repeated rocket fire by Palestinian military groups against Israeli civilians and settlements near the Gaza Strip caused great tensions, which escalated the conflict.
On December 27, 2008, the first war in the Gaza Strip began. The Israeli military offensive “Cast Lead” ends on 18.1.2009. Subsequently, on November 14, 2012, another war took place between the two, this time lasting eight days. Just a year and a half later, the third war in Gaza begins, breaking out on July 8, 2014 after Israel continued to receive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. This concludes on August 26 with a temporary ceasefire.
On May 10, 2021, war between Israel and Gaza breaks out again after Hamas launched new rockets against Jerusalem. Before this, there were weeks of unrest, mainly in east Jerusalem, over the forced eviction of Palestinian homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and violence on the Temple Mount and at the Al Aqsa Mosque. The war ends on 5/21/2021 with a ceasefire.
According to UN figures, more than 260 people died in the Gaza Strip and at least 10 in Israel.
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