Hamas

"Hamas" is also the former name of the Movement of Society for Peace , a political party in Algeria . The Hamas emblem shows two crossed swords, the Dome of the Rock , and a map of the land they claim as Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel , the West Bank and the Gaza Strip ). Hamas , acronym of Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah ( Arabic : Islamic Resistance Movement , Hamas is also Arabic for 'zeal' or 'courage') is a Palestinian Islamist militant organization closely related to the Muslim Brotherhood . Their stated goal is to conquer all of the State of Israel , the West Bank and Gaza , including any secular Palestinian state that may come into formal existence, and replace it with an Islamic theocracy . Hamas is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union , Canada , the United States , and Israel , as well as numerous human rights organizations, and its activities have been condemned by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and by Human Rights Watch in the past. The organization is highly popular among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip . It also has a following in the West Bank , and, to a lesser extent, other Middle Eastern countries and throughout the Palestinian diaspora, including within Israel. The movement's popularity stems from its paramilitary activities and its charitable operations; the provision of welfare and social services to the Palestinian poor. Hamas is notorious for using the tactic of suicide bombing against Israel, particularly against civilians in busy urban areas. Suicide attacks are an element of Hamas' asymmetric warfare against Israel. Because Hamas considers all Israelis to be active participants in an illegal occupation of Palestinian land and because Israel's policy of universal conscription implies that a majority of adults either serve in the Israeli military or reserves for some portion of their lives, Hamas does not distinguish between Israeli civilian and military targets. The failure to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants has helped to earn Hamas the label of "terrorist organization." Hamas also fights a guerrilla war against the Israeli military and security forces in its effort to drive them from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and ultimately eliminate the state of Israel and replace it with an Islamic state. As well as suicide bombings (mostly targeting civilians and occasionally against the military) Hamas guerrillas also carry out non-suicidal attacks, such as planting bombs and carrying out shooting attacks in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The organization's goal to destroy Israel in its entirety has made its leaders prime targets for assassinations.

Hamas ( حماس Ḥamās , an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah , meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Islamic organization with a socio-political wing and a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades . After winning a majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament in the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections , and defeating rival Palestinian party Fatah in a series of violent clashes , since June 2007 Hamas has governed the Gaza portion of the Palestinian Territories . The European Union , Israel , Japan , Canada , and the United States classify Hamas as a terrorist organization . Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin , Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of Egypt 's Muslim Brotherhood , at the beginning of the First Intifada , an uprising against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories. Through its funding and management of schools, health-care clinics, mosques , youth groups, athletic clubs, and day-care centers, Hamas by the mid-1990s had attained a "well-entrenched" presence in the West Bank and Gaza. An estimated 80-90% of Hamas revenues fund health, social welfare, religious, cultural, and educational services. On the military side, Hamas launched numerous suicide bombings against Israelis, the first in April 1993. Hamas ceased the attacks in 2005, and renounced them in April 2006. In recent years Hamas has mainly attacked Israel with rocket and mortar fire. After Hamas's election victory, conflicts arose between Hamas and Fatah. Following the June 2007 Battle of Gaza , Hamas retained control of Gaza and its officials were ousted from positions in the Palestinian National Authority government in the West Bank . Israel and Egypt then imposed an economic blockade on Gaza . In June 2008, Hamas ceased rocket attacks on Israel following an Egyptian -brokered ceasefire, but attacks by other organizations continued despite Hamas efforts to prevent them. Two months before the end of the six-month ceasefire the conflict escalated, after a November 4 Israeli incursion into Gaza killed seven Hamas militants, and this led to a renewal of Hamas rocket attacks. In late December 2008, Israel attacked Gaza , withdrawing its forces from the territory in mid-January 2009. Despite ceasing military hostilities, Israel maintained a blockade of Gaza's border and airspace. Hamas's 1988 charter calls for replacing the State of Israel with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. However, in July 2009, Khaled Meshal , Hamas's Damascus -based political bureau chief, stated Hamas's willingness to cooperate with "a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict which included a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders," provided that Palestinian refugees be given the right to return to Israel and that East Jerusalem be recognized as the new state's capital. Hamas has in the past described its conflict with Israel as political and not religious, but some journalists and advocacy groups believe that the Hamas Charter and statements by Hamas leaders have been influenced by antisemitic conspiracy theories . Transnational and non state armed groups. London: The Times Online . "Country reports on terrorism 2005" , United States Department of State . " "Hamas" Council on Foreign Relations . Updated January 7, 2009 "Hamas in call to end suicide bombings" The Observer . [1] "The Gangs of Gaza" , Newsweek , June 26, 2006. al-Mughrabi, Nidal and Assadi, Mohammed. Palestinian in-fighting provokes despair, frustration , Reuters , October 3, 2006. The named reference "Guardian31012006" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page ). Hamas offers truce , Al-Ahram Weekly , 21–27 October 1999, Issue No. 452 "Haniyeh: Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders" , Amira Hass, Ha'aretz , 09/11/2008 Matthias Küntzel. "'Wipe out the jews': Anti-Semitic Hate Speech in the Name of Islam" , Der Spiegel , May 16, 2008.

Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organization "Islamic Resistance Movement" redirects here; not to be confused with Islamic Resistance Movement (Iraq) . Hamas ( Arabic : حماس Ḥamās , an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah [Islamic Resistance Movement]) is a Palestinian Sunni - Islamic fundamentalist militant organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah , and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades . It has been the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip since its takeover of that area in 2007. During this period it fought several wars with Israel . Israel , the United States and the European Union classify, either in whole or in part, Hamas as a terrorist organization . This classification is one among various and diverse international positions on the nature of Hamas . Hamas was founded in 1987, soon after the First Intifada broke out, as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood , which in its Gaza branch had previously been non-confrontational towards Israel and hostile to the PLO . Co-founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin stated in 1987, and the Hamas Charter affirmed in 1988, that Hamas was founded to liberate Palestine , including modern-day Israel, from Israeli occupation and to establish an Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The group has stated that it may accept a 10-year truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders and allows Palestinian refugees from 1948 , including their descendants, to return to what is now Israel, although clarifying that this does not mean recognition of Israel or the end of the conflict. Hamas's military wing objected to the truce offer. The military wing of Hamas has launched attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, often describing them as retaliatory, in particular for assassinations of the upper echelon of their leadership. Tactics have included suicide bombings and, since 2001, rocket attacks . Hamas's rocket arsenal, though mainly consisting of short-range homemade Qassam rockets , also includes long-range weapons that have reached major Israeli cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa . The attacks on civilians have been condemned as war crimes and crimes against humanity by human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch . A 2017 Palestinian Center for Public Opinion poll in the Palestinian territories revealed that Hamas violence and rhetoric against Israelis are unpopular and that a majority of Palestinians would rather Hamas "accept a permanent two-state solution based on the 1967 borders." In the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas won a plurality in the Palestinian Parliament, defeating the PLO-affiliated Fatah party. Following the elections, the Quartet (the United States, Russia, United Nations, and European Union) made future foreign assistance to the PA conditional upon the future government's commitment to non-violence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements. Hamas rejected those changes, which led to the Quartet suspending its foreign assistance program and Israel imposing economic sanctions on the Hamas-led administration. In March 2007, a national unity government headed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas was briefly formed, but this failed to restart international financial assistance. Tensions over control of Palestinian security forces soon erupted in the 2007 Battle of Gaza , after which Hamas took control of Gaza, while its officials were ousted from government positions in the West Bank. Israel and Egypt then imposed an economic blockade of the Gaza Strip , on the grounds that Fatah forces were no longer providing security there. The leaders of the organization argued that Islam gave the Palestinian people the power to confront Israel and described the Intifada as the return of the masses to Islam. Since its inception, Hamas has tried to reconcile nationalism and Islam. ... "Hamas: Palestinian Identity, Islam, and National Sovereignty," in Asher Susser (ed.) Challenges to the Cohesion of the Arabic State . Fatah agrees to celebrate Hamas anniversary in Gaza . This article incorporates public domain material from Hamas: The Organizations, Goals and Tactics of a Militant Palestinian Organization . Council on Foreign Relations . The Wall Street Journal . Washington Institute for Near East Policy . "The strategic calculus of terrorism: Substitution and competition in the Israel–Palestine conflict". Cooperation and Conflict . 45 (1): 6– 33. "Hamas' rockets can kill people and they have," a counter-intelligence veteran of the U.S., CIA who spent his career monitoring Israeli and Palestinian military capabilities, told me recently, "but compared to what the Israelis are using, the Palestinians are firing bottle rockets." The Growing Reach of Hamas's Rockets . The New York Times . Hamas The New York Times , June 18, 2010 "The pact did not succeed in restoring the flow of aid and did not last. August 27, 2009, "In the summer of 2007, Hamas tensions with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Fatah man, came to a head and Hamas routed Fatah supporters, killing many and sending others fleeing to the West Bank. The result was a de facto geographic division of Palestinian-held territory, with Hamas holding sway in Gaza and Fatah maintaining the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank town of Ramallah." "Gaza may face economic disaster if blockade continues" .

Palestinian Sunni Islamic militant nationalist organization "Islamic Resistance Movement" redirects here; not to be confused with Islamic Resistance Movement of Azerbaijan or Islamic Resistance Movement (Iraq) . Hamas ( UK : / h æ ˈ m æ s , ˈ h æ m æ s / , US : / h ɑː ˈ m ɑː s , ˈ h ɑː m ɑː s / ; , ; an acronym of حركة المقاومة الإسلامية Ḥarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah , lit. ' Islamic Resistance Movement ' ) is a Palestinian Sunni - Islamic fundamentalist , militant , and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah , and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades . It won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and became the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip following the 2007 Battle of Gaza . It also holds a majority in the parliament of the Palestinian National Authority . Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization . New Zealand and Paraguay have designated only its military wing as a terrorist organization. It is not considered a terrorist organization by Brazil, China, Egypt, Iran, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Syria and Turkey. In December 2018, a resolution to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organisation failed to pass the United Nations General Assembly . Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal are based in Qatar. "Paraguay adds Hamas, Hezbollah to terrorism list" . 20 August 2019. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).

Palestinian political and military organization For other uses, see Hamas (disambiguation) . The Islamic Resistance Movement , abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from Arabic : حركة المقاومة الإسلامية , romanized : Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades . It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007. The Hamas movement was founded by Palestinian Islamic scholar Ahmed Yassin in 1987, after the outbreak of the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation . It emerged from his 1973 Mujama al-Islamiya Islamic charity affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood . Initially, Hamas was discreetly supported by Israel, as a counter-balance to the secular Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). In the 2006 Palestinian legislative election , Hamas secured a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council by campaigning on promises of a corruption-free government and advocating for resistance as a means to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation. In the Battle of Gaza , Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from rival Palestinian faction Fatah , and has since governed the territory separately from the Palestinian National Authority . After Hamas's takeover, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip . Egypt also began its blockade of Gaza at this time. This was followed by multiple wars with Israel, including those in 2008–09 , 2012 , 2014 , 2021 , and an ongoing one since 2023 , which began with the October 7 attacks . Hamas has promoted Palestinian nationalism in an Islamic context and initially sought a state in all of former Mandatory Palestine . It began acquiescing to 1967 borders in the agreements it signed with Fatah in 2005 , 2006 and 2007 . In 2017, Hamas released a new charter that supported a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders without recognizing Israel. Hamas's repeated offers of a truce (for a period of 10–100 years ) based on the 1967 borders are seen by many as consistent with a two-state solution , while others state that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former Mandatory Palestine. While the 1988 Hamas charter was widely described as antisemitic , Hamas's 2017 charter removed the antisemitic language and declared Zionists , not Jews, the targets of their struggle. It has been debated whether the charter has reflected an actual change in policy. In terms of foreign policy, Hamas has historically sought out relations with Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey; some of its relations have been impacted by the Arab Spring . Hamas and Israel have engaged in protracted armed conflict . Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem , Israeli settlements , borders, water rights, the permit regime , Palestinian freedom of movement , and the Palestinian right of return . Hamas has attacked Israeli civilians, including using suicide bombings , as well as launching rockets at Israeli cities. In 2018 and 2023, a motion at the United Nations to condemn Hamas was rejected. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ). The organisation's leaders argued that Islam gave the Palestinian people the power to confront Israel and described the Intifada as the return of the masses to Islam. Since its inception, Hamas has tried to reconcile nationalism and Islam. The New York Times . The failure of the Palestinian left in consolidating a counterweight to the right-wing Islamic Hamas or to the centrist Fatah, furthermore, left Palestinian voters with no viable alternative to Hamas or Fatah. International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond (4th ed.). Indeed, more than anything, the Gaza Wars between 2006 and 2014 reflected that a modus vivendi had been reached between a right-wing Israeli government and a right-wing Hamas... Sectarianism inf the Contemporary Middle East . From a political perspective, Hamas ideologically leans more to a right-wing view in its political sense... The most successful radical Sunni Islamist group has been Hamas, which began as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine in the early 1980s. It used terrorist attacks against civilians – particularly suicide bombings – to help build a larger movement, going so far as to emerge as the recognized government of the Gaza Strip in the Palestine Authority. A simple guide to the armed Palestinian group" . The Wall Street Journal . When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank. 'When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a mistake,' says David Hacham, who worked in Gaza in the late 1980s and early '90s as an Arab-affairs expert in the Israeli military. 'But at the time nobody thought about the possible results.' Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the group's recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. 'Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons,' Mr. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran. Sources that believe that Hamas' 2017 charter accepted the 1967 borders: Bjorn Brenner (2022). Diaspora Entrepreneurs and Contested States . Routledge Companion to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict . Even Hamas in 2017 said it was ready to accept a Palestinian state with 1967 borders if it is clear this is the consensus of the Palestinians. Hamas in Power: The Question of Transformation . Federation of American Scientists . Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . Currently, freedom of movement and access for Palestinians within the West Bank is the exception rather than the norm contrary to the commitments undertaken in a number of Agreements between GOI and the PA. In particular, both the Oslo Accords and the Road Map were based on the principle that normal Palestinian economic and social life would be unimpeded by restrictions DW 2018 . Meetings Coverage and Press Releases .

Islamist Palestinian political and paramilitary organization For other uses, see Hamas (disambiguation) . The Islamic Resistance Movement , abbreviated Hamas (an acronym from the Arabic : حركة المقاومة الإسلامية , romanized : Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah ), is a Sunni Islamist Palestinian nationalist political organisation with a military wing known as the al-Qassam Brigades . It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007. In July 2026 it announced the resignation of its civilian administration under the Gaza peace plan and US President Donald Trump announced that his Board of Peace had reached an agreement to disarm Hamas. The Hamas movement was founded by Palestinian Islamic scholar Ahmed Yassin in 1987 after the outbreak of the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation. It emerged from his 1973 Mujama al-Islamiya Islamic charity affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood . Initially, Hamas was discreetly supported by Israel , as a counter-balance to the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to prevent the creation of an independent Palestinian state. In the 2006 Palestinian legislative election , Hamas secured a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council by campaigning on promises of a corruption-free government and advocating for resistance as a means to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation. In the 2007 Battle of Gaza , Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from rival Palestinian faction Fatah . It has since governed the territory separately from the Palestinian National Authority , and has been criticized for human rights violations. After Hamas's takeover, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip . Egypt also began its blockade of Gaza at this time. This was followed by multiple wars with Israel, including those in 2008–09 , 2012 , 2014 , 2021 , and an ongoing one since 2023 , which began with the October 7 attacks . Hamas has promoted Palestinian nationalism in an Islamic context and initially sought a state in all of former Mandatory Palestine . It began acquiescing to 1967 borders in the agreements it signed with Fatah in 2005 , 2006 and 2007 . In 2017, Hamas released a new charter that supported a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders without recognizing Israel. Hamas's repeated offers of a truce (for a period of 10–100 years ) based on the 1967 borders are seen by many as consistent with a two-state solution , while others state that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former Mandatory Palestine. While the 1988 Hamas charter was widely described as antisemitic , Hamas's 2017 charter removed the antisemitic language and declared Zionists , not Jews, the targets of their struggle. It has been debated whether the charter has reflected an actual change in policy. In terms of foreign policy, Hamas has historically sought out relations with Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey; some of its relations have been impacted by the Arab Spring . Hamas and Israel have engaged in the protracted Gaza–Israel conflict , as part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Hamas has attacked Israeli civilians, including through suicide bombings as well as launching rockets at Israeli cities. In 2018 and 2023, motions at the United Nations to condemn Hamas as terrorist organization failed to meet the two-thirds threshold. The New York Times . The organisation's leaders argued that Islam gave the Palestinian people the power to confront Israel and described the Intifada as the return of the masses to Islam. Since its inception, Hamas has tried to reconcile nationalism and Islam. A simple guide to the armed Palestinian group" . The Wall Street Journal . When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank. 'When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a mistake,' says David Hacham, who worked in Gaza in the late 1980s and early '90s as an Arab-affairs expert in the Israeli military. 'But at the time nobody thought about the possible results.' Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the group's recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. 'Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons,' Mr. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran. The Hundred Years' War on Palestine . Sources that believe that Hamas' 2017 charter accepted the 1967 borders: Bjorn Brenner (2022). Diaspora Entrepreneurs and Contested States . Routledge Companion to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict . Even Hamas in 2017 said it was ready to accept a Palestinian state with 1967 borders if it is clear this is the consensus of the Palestinians. Hamas in Power: The Question of Transformation . Federation of American Scientists . Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . Meetings Coverage and Press Releases . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).