The heaviest attack on Israel in recent times by the Hamas organization in Palestine was carried out last weekend. This attack was a type of attack that Israel did not expect at all, and it developed to a level that made France aware of the operation of the country’s intelligence agencies.
But who is really this Hamas? What purpose are they working for?
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic militant group with a political and armed wing. It does not recognize Israel as a state. Meanwhile, Germany, the European Union, the United States and some Arab states have classified Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Hamas was founded in the late 1980s, primarily in opposition to then-Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arfat’s Palestine Liberation Organization.
Hamas is made up of various military groups, including the Qassam Brigades, which has carried out numerous attacks and suicide bombings against Israel in recent years. Hamas is also aligned with a political party and other aid organizations.
Second Rising
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization initiated the Oslo Peace Process in 1993, with each side recognizing the other. However, Hamas did not accept this historic agreement and continued to attack Israel.
Meanwhile, during the second uprising (2000–2005), Palestinian militant groups—including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades—launched numerous attacks against Israeli civilians.
However, the Israeli army later moved into Palestinian cities under the Oslo Accords, including Ramallah, which are under the Palestinian Authority. According to UN statistics, 4,228 Palestinians, 1,024 Israelis and 63 foreign nationals were killed in the fighting between September 2000 and July 2007.
Hamas to Gaza
The militant group Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections. At the same time, in 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip after fierce fighting against the Fatah movement, a nationalist and social democratic party that makes up the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Accordingly, from then on, an intra-Palestinian political divide was created. As a result, Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian Authority, dominated by the Fatah party, controls the semi-autonomous areas of the West Bank.
Israel has since declared the Gaza Strip hostile territory while tightening its extensive and ongoing blockade, enforced in part by Egypt, with whom Gaza shares its southwestern border.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. A majority of the population lives in abject poverty and many depend on humanitarian aid for their livelihoods. Meanwhile, Hamas continued to attack Israel from the Gaza Strip, claiming that they were attacking Israel in self-defense. Also, in 2008 and 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021, Hamas has had four armed conflicts with the Israeli army.
First Gaza War
On December 27, 2008, the first Gaza war began. It was initiated by Palestinian militant groups who continued to fire rockets at Israeli civilians and nearby areas in the Gaza Strip. In response to that, the operation launched by Israel continued until January 18, 2009.
Meanwhile, another war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza began on November 14, 2012, and this time it lasted for eight days. Just over a year and a half later, the Third Gaza War began on July 8, 2014. It began after continuous rocket fire from the Gaza Strip towards Israel. It ended in a temporary ceasefire on August 26.
On May 10, 2021, war broke out again between Israel and the Gaza Strip after Hamas fired rockets into Jerusalem. The clashes followed weeks of unrest in East Jerusalem, mainly over the forced eviction of Palestinian homes in the immediate vicinity of Sheikh Jarrah and the crisis at the Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque.
This conflict also ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021. But according to UN figures, more than 260 people in Gaza and at least 10 people in Israel were killed in the conflict.
But again, there are conflicts in the Gaza Strip and the conflicts are still escalating at the time of writing this article.
You make it sound like all attacks are “initiated” by the palestinians or Hamas, forgetting that the civilians in Palestine have been under constant occupation, blockade and abuse from Israeli authorities for decades.
They periodically stand up for themselves when the suffering gets too much.
Tell the full story or don’t say anything at all. Stop misguiding people
This is trash. Makes me think this is Israeli propaganda. No mention of the illegal settlements and settler violence and the illegal occupation. Settlers literally go around with automatic weapons attacking entire villages with the Israeli army protecting them.
Israel violates international law routinely, without that reality there would no hamas. Even when hamas gave up their weapons, israel were bombing, starving and murdering Palestinians. That’s why hamas and the rest of the Palestinians turn to armed resistance. To simply exist in own land that is constantly being stolen from them!