A Short History of Hamas

In the annals of Sahih Muslim hadiths, one particular saying has resonated with the Islamic resistance movement and found its place in the charter of Hamas. Hamas, officially known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Sunni Islamist organization with a dual political and military role. This group currently exercises governance over the Gaza Strip within the Palestinian territories.

Its inception can be traced back to the early days of the first Palestinian Intifada, a period marked by a sustained series of protests and violent uprisings initiated by Palestinians in response to the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The spark that ignited the first Intifada was an incident that occurred on December 9th, 1987, in the Jabalia refugee camp. An Israeli Defense Forces truck was involved in a collision with a civilian car, resulting in the death of four Palestinian laborers, three of whom hailed from the Jabalia refugee camp.

Palestinians allege that this accident was a deliberate retaliation for the earlier killing of an Israeli in Gaza. Israel, on the other hand, vehemently denied any intentionality or coordination behind the crash. The Palestinian response to this incident was characterized by a wave of protests, civil disobedience and sporadic violence.

The landscape was marked by graffiti, barricades and a proliferation of stone throwing and Molotov cocktails directed at the IDF and its installations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These confrontations contrasted with civil efforts, including general strikes, boycotts of Israeli civil administration institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and an economic boycott encompassing a refusal to work in Israeli settlements. Abstention from purchasing Israeli products, nonpayment of taxes and a boycott of Palestinian vehicles with Israeli licenses.

In response to this unrest, Israel deployed an extensive force of around 80,000 soldiers, while its countermeasures, which initially included the use of live rounds, attracted criticism for their perceived disproportionality. Amidst these tumultuous times, three influential figures, namely Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Salah Shehadeh, among others, exhorted the populace to rise against Israeli forces, particularly after mosque services. In the wake of these protests against Israel.

Hamas was founded by al-Rantisi and Yassin with roots going back to Amheds Mujama al-Islamiya, a religious charity affiliated with the Egypt based Muslim Brotherhood, which had been established in Gaza in 1973. Before the first intifada the Israeli administration had looked favorably on the work of Sheikh Yassin and his Islamist group, Mujama al-Islamiya. Israel recognized the group as a charity and in 1979 as an association, while also endorsing their establishment of the Islamic University of Gaza, which later became a hotbed of militancy.

Israel may have wanted to nurture a counterforce to the then enemy Yasser Arafat's Fatah party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, or PLO. Whatever the motives, Hamas was to soon turn on Israel. Ahmed Yassin was born in al-Jura, a small village near the city of Ashkelon within the British mandate of Palestine.

Forced to flee along with his family, they settled in al-Shati camp after their village was subjected to ethnic cleansing by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The other co-founder of Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, was born in Yibna near Jaffa in 1947, and his family were forced to flee to the Gaza Strip during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1956, at the age of nine, Israeli soldiers killed his uncle in Khan Younis.

Rantisi pursued his studies in pediatric medicine and genetics at Egypt's Alexandria University, graduating at the top of his class. He became a certified physician and during his time in Egypt, became an ardent member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1976, he returned to Gaza to teach parasitology and genetics at the Islamic University.

Hamas's initial foray against Israel occurred in the spring of 1989, when the organization abducted and killed two Israeli soldiers, Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon. During this period, figures such as Shehade and Sinwar were imprisoned in Israeli facilities. Hamas subsequently established a new entity called Unit 101, led by Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, with the explicit mission of abducting soldiers, the discovery of Sasportas' body prompted an intense Israeli response characterized by the arrest of numerous Hamas leaders and activists, including Yassin, who was sentenced to life in prison.

This marked the outlawing of Hamas. Mass detentions, along with a subsequent wave of arrests in 1990, effectively dismantled the organization to adapt and evade detection. Hamas decentralized its command structure, making its operations more diffuse.

These actions were undertaken in response to the anger that followed the Al-Aqsa massacre of October 1990, during which Israeli security forces employed live ammunition against Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa compound, killing 17 Palestinians as they tried to prevent Jewish Orthodox extremists from placing a foundation stone for the Third Temple on the Temple Mount. In the shadow of what became known as Black Monday, Hamas declared every Israeli soldier a legitimate target and called for a “Jihad against the Zionist enemy everywhere in all fronts and every means”. Consequently, Hamas restructured itself, merging the units al-Majd and al-Mujahidun al-Filastiniun to form a military wing known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

This military wing was led by Yahya Ayyash. The name "Izz ad-Din al-Qassam" is a homage to the Palestinian nationalist leader, Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, who fought against the British and whose death in 1935 played a significant role in sparking the 1936 1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Yahya Ayyash, an engineering graduate from Birzeit University was known for his expertise in bomb making, significantly enhancing Hamas offensive capabilities.

This proficiency earned him the nickname "al-Muhandis" or "the Engineer”. He played a pivotal role in Hamas's adoption of suicide bombings, arguing Until his assassination in 1996, nearly all bombs used in suicide missions were constructed by him. In December 1992, Israel responded to the killing of a border police officer by deporting 415 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to southern Lebanon, which was under Israeli occupation at the time.

In Lebanon, Hamas established connections with Hezbollah and Palestinian residents of refugee camps, learning how to construct suicide and car bombs. The Israeli deportations were accompanied by a two week curfew imposed on the Gaza Strip, resulting in a daily economic loss of approximately $1,810,000. The deportees were allowed to return nine months later.

This action by Israel sparked international condemnation, and the United Nations Security Council passed a unanimous resolution condemning the deportations. In response, Hamas ordered two car bombings. Hamas conducted its first suicide bombing at Mahola Junction in the West Bank in April 1993.

The attack involved a car parked between two busses carrying soldiers. Besides the suicide bomber, the blast resulted in the death of a Palestinian. The device had design flaws, but Hamas would soon improve its bomb making techniques, creating increasingly lethal explosives.

This level of violence was not typical during the initial years of the Intifada. Early Hamas violence was primarily directed at Palestinians, particularly those perceived as Israeli collaborators. Hamas’s actions during the first Intifada played a role in expanding its popularity.

However, by 1989, less than 3% of Palestinians in Gaza supported Hamas, with Fatah remaining the dominant political faction. Over the following four years, Hamas popularity did rise to 13%. In February 1994, during Ramadan, Barak Goldstein, a Jewish settler in military attire perpetrated a heinous act by massacring 29 Muslims who were in prayer at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, located in the West Bank.

Following the massacre, an additional 19 Palestinians lost their lives in clashes with Israeli forces. While Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin condemned the massacre. He refrained from withdrawing the settler community for fear of a confrontation with the settlers.

In response to the massacre, Hamas vowed to seek retribution for the lives lost. Hamas declared that if Israel failed to distinguish between fighters and civilians, they would be compelled to treat the Zionist community in a similar manner. In the aftermath of the shooting, Palestinian protests and riots quickly erupted.

During the subsequent week, the Israel Defense Forces was responsible for the deaths of 25 Palestinians. While five Israelis also lost their lives. The Israeli government imposed a two week curfew on the 120,000 Palestinian residents of Hebron, confining their movements.

Although the 400 Jewish settlers in the area had no such imposition. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reached out to Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, characterizing the attack as a loathsome criminal act of murder. In an address to the Knesset.

Rabin not only condemned Baruch Goldstein and his legacy, but also Rabin declared murderous settlers to be outcasts, alien to Israel and to Judaism. In response to the incident, the Israeli government initiated measures such as the arrest of followers of Meir Kahane, restricted entry of certain settlers into Arab towns, and demanded that these settlers surrender their army issued rifles. However, they rejected a PLO demand for the disarmament of settlers and the creation of an international force to protect Palestinians.

The Hebron massacre had a profound impact on the nature of Hamas's militancy. During its initial seven years, Hamas primarily targeted what it deemed legitimate military targets, such as Israeli soldiers and military installations. However, in the wake of the Hebron massacre, Hamas abandoned its distinction between military and civilian targets.

Sheikh Ahmed Haj Ali, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank, contended that. . .

The massacre at the mosque released them from any taboo about indiscriminate violence and introduced a dimension of ‘measure for measure’ based on citations from the Koran. On April six, 1994, a suicide bombing occurred at a crowded bus stop in Afula, killing 8 Israelis and injuries to 34 others. A week later, a Palestinian detonated himself on a bus in Hadera, claiming the lives of 5 Israelis and injuring 30 more.

Hamas claimed responsibility for both attacks. Another bombing on a bus in downtown Tel Aviv in October resulted in the loss of 22 lives and injuries to 45 individuals. Then, in late December 1995, Hamas made a promise to the Palestinian Authority to halt military operations.

However, this commitment was short lived as the Israel Security Agency assassinated Yahya Ayyash, the 29-year-old leader of the al-Qassam Brigades, on January 5th, 1996. A massive crowd, nearly 100,000 Gazans participated in Ayyash's funeral. In retaliation for his assassination, Hamas resumed its campaign of suicide bombings, which had been relatively dormant for much of 1995.

In September 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the assassination of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who was residing in Jordan. Two Mossad agents entered Jordan using false Canadian passports and sprayed Mashal with a nerve agent on a street in Amman. However, they were apprehended and King Hussein threatened to put the agents on trial unless Israel provided an antidote for Mashal and released Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Israel complied with the demand, and the antidote saved Khaled Marshal's life. Yassin was returned to Gaza, where he received a hero's welcome with banners hailing him as the “sheikh of the Intifada”. Yassin's release temporarily boosted Hamas's popularity, and during a press conference, he declared, While Palestinians were accustomed to the idea that their youth were willing to sacrifice their lives for the struggle, the concept of suicide bombings was a new and not widely supported development.

A poll conducted in 1996 after a wave of suicide bombings by Hamas in retaliation for Israel's assassination of Ayyash, showed that a majority, around 70%, opposed the tactic, and 59% called for Arafat to take action to prevent further attacks. The second Intifada in September 2000 began violently with mass demonstrations and lethal Israeli counterinsurgency tactics. By July of the following year, after almost a year of savage conflict, polling indicated that 86% of Palestinians endorsed violence against Israelis and support for Hamas had risen to 17%.

The unrest emerged from the failure of the 2000 Camp David summit, which was expected to reach a final agreement on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in July 2000. In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, the Israeli opposition leader, made a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa compound on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This visit sparked protests and riots, and the Israeli police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

In the turbulent period of the conflict, a high toll of casualties was inflicted on both civilians and combatants. Israeli forces resorted to gunfire, targeted assassinations, as well as tank and aerial strikes, while Palestinians employed tactics ranging from suicide bombings and gunfire to stone throwing and rocket attacks. The violence is estimated to have killed 3000 Palestinians, 1000 Israelis and 64 foreign nationals.

Among the many militant groups involved in military style attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli civilian and military targets during this period, the al-Qassam Brigades were prominent. Over the ensuing years the conflict claimed the lives of almost 5000 Palestinians and over 1100 Israelis. While Palestinian attacks against Israelis were numerous, the most devastating form of violence came in the form of suicide attacks in the first five years of the intifada, slightly over half of all Israeli casualties were victims of suicide bombings, with Hamas being responsible for approximately 40% of the 135 attacks during this period.

On June 8th, 2003, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi directed a Hamas led attack at the Erez checkpoint in the Gaza Strip, killing four Israeli soldiers. Two days later, Rantisi narrowly survived an Israeli helicopter attack on his car, which claimed the life of one of his bodyguards, a civilian, and left at least 25 others injured. Yassin was a vocal critic of the outcome of the 2003 Aqaba summit.

Though his group initially declared a temporary truce with Israel, it failed dramatically on June 11th, 2003, when a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem claimed the lives of 17 and injured over 100. Israeli forces retaliated by killing two senior Hamas members and four others. On September 6, 2003, an Israeli Air Force F-16 launched several missiles at a building in Gaza City with Yassin inside.

He miraculously survived the attack and Israeli officials subsequently confirmed that he had been the intended target. In response to the media, Yassin declared that On 22nd March 2004, Ahmed Yassin, at the age of 67, was assassinated in Gaza City. While returning from early morning prayers by an Israeli helicopter gunship, his bodyguards were also killed instantly, along with nine bystanders.

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he “opened the gates of hell”. Shortly after the attack, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi took over the leadership of the movement in the Gaza Strip. There was a growing discontent among the Palestinian population during the Oslo peace process.

The realities on the ground did not align with the expectations created by the peace agreements. Hamas would capitalize on this mounting discontent in the 2006 Palestinian Authority legislative elections. The landslide victory with 76 seats, excluding an additional four seats, won by independent candidates who supported Hamas.

Fatah, in contrast, only managed to secure 43 seats. International observers tasked with evaluating the electoral process deemed it competitive and genuinely democratic. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates urged the United States to consider engaging with Hamas and argued that it would be unwise to penalize Palestinians for their democratic choice, a view endorsed by the Arab League a month later.

Upon winning the elections, Hamas assumed administrative control of Gaza and introduced sweeping changes. It inherited a region mired in chaos and lawlessness, primarily due to the economic sanctions imposed by Israel. The United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia, which had severely depleted the administrative resources of the Palestinian Authority.

Numerous mafia-style gangs and terror cells inspired by al Qaeda had proliferated. Hamas took Significant steps to restructure the police and security forces, crack down on crime and gangs, ensuring that no groups openly carried weapons or committed crimes with impunity. People began paying their taxes and electricity bills while authorities took on tasks such as garbage collection and incarceration of criminals.

Then in early February 2006, shortly after winning the election, Hamas extended an olive branch to Israel by offering a ten year truce. They proposed this in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Hamas also sought recognition of Palestinian rights, such as the right of return.

However, this truce did not imply a permanent cessation of armed operations against Israel, nor would they prevent other Palestinian groups from conducting such operations. The United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations laid out conditions for continuing assistance to the Palestinian Authority, including the renouncing of violence, recognizing Israel and accepting previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Hamas refused to meet these demands.

Consequently, all international aid to the Palestinian territories was frozen. But it was not just international pressure weighing upon the new leadership. Tensions escalated between Fatah and Hamas militants as Fatah commanders refused to comply with the government's orders.

The Palestinian Authority initiated a campaign of demonstrations, assassinations and abductions against Hamas. Predictably, Hamas responded in kind. Israeli intelligence reportedly warned Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas had planned to assassinate him in his Gaza office, viewing him as an obstacle to its complete control over the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas leader Mohammed Nazzal accused Abbas of complicity in besieging and isolating the Hamas led government. The situation remained volatile, with both Fatah and Hamas vying for power and control. On June 9th, 2006, during an Israeli artillery operation, there was an explosion on a bustling Gaza beach leading to the loss of eight Palestinian civilian lives.

While it was widely assumed that Israeli shelling was responsible for the casualties, Israeli government officials denied this claim. The situation escalated when on June 10th, Hamas formally withdrew from its 16-month ceasefire and claimed responsibility for subsequent Qassam rocket attacks launched from Gaza into Israel. Tension continued to increase when on June 25th two Israeli soldiers were killed and another Gilad Shalit was captured during an incursion by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Popular Resistance Committees and Army of Islam.

In response, the Israeli military initiated Operation Summer Rains, three days later, with the aim of securing Shalit's release. This operation led to the arrest of 64 Hamas officials, including eight Palestinian Authority cabinet ministers and approximately 20 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. These arrests and other events effectively paralyzed the Hamas dominated legislature for much of its term.

Gilad Shalit remained in captivity until 2011, when he was finally released in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners. In February 2007, Saudi sponsored negotiations led to the signing of the Hamas and Fatah Mecca agreement, aiming to establish a unity government. The agreement was signed by Mahmoud Abbas on behalf of Fatah and Khaled Mashal on behalf of Hamas.

By March, the Palestinian Legislative Council had established a national unity government, with 83 representatives voting in favor and only three against. Unfortunately, in June of the same year, renewed fighting erupted between Hamas and Fatah. During this period, Major General Yadlin emphasized the benefits for Israeli interests in the event of a Fatah withdrawal from Gaza.

As Hamas continued to gain influence. The subsequent June 27 ‘Battle of Gaza’ saw Hamas seize control of the region, effectively ousting Fatah officials and causing President Mahmoud Abbas to dismiss the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government. As a response, Abbas also outlawed the Hamas militia.

The intense fighting between Hamas and Fatah resulted in the loss of at least 600 Palestinian lives and many maimed and tortured on both sides. On June 17th, 2008, Egyptian mediators announced that an informal truce had been agreed upon between Hamas and Israel. In this truce, Hamas committed to ceasing rocket attacks on Israel, while Israel agreed to allow limited commercial shipping across its border with Gaza.

This agreement remained in place unless there was a breakdown of the tentative peace deal. Hamas also hinted at discussing the release of Gilad Shalit. Even before the truce was agreed upon, some on the Israeli side were not optimistic about it, with Israeli Security Agency Chief Yuval Diskin stating in May 2008 that a ground incursion into Gaza was unavoidable and would be more effective in quelling arms smuggling and pressuring Hamas to relinquish power.

While Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire, the lull was sporadically violated by other groups, sometimes in defiance of Hamas. For example, on June 24th, Islamic Jihad launched rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot. Israel considered this attack a grave violation of the informal truce and closed its border crossings with Gaza.

On November 4th, 2008, Israeli forces killed six Hamas gunmen in a raid inside the Gaza Strip while attempting to stop the construction of a tunnel. In response, Hamas resumed rocket attacks. When the truce officially expired on December 19th, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets and mortars into Israel over the next three days, although no Israelis were injured.

On December 21st, Hamas announced its readiness to stop the attacks and renew the truce if Israel ceased its aggression in Gaza and opened its border crossings. On December 27 and 28, Israel implemented Operation Cast Lead against Hamas. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said, “We warned Hamas repeatedly that rejecting the truce would push Israel to aggression against Gaza”.

According to Palestinian officials, over 280 people were killed and 600 were injured in the first two days of air strikes. Most of the casualties were Hamas police and security officers, although many civilians also died. According to Israel, the targeted sites included militant training camps, rocket manufacturing facilities and weapons warehouses which had been pre-identified.

Later, they also attacked rocket and mortar squads that fired around 180 rockets and mortars at Israeli communities. Despite Israel sending out thousands of cell phone messages urging residents of Gaza to leave houses where weapons may be stored to minimize civilian casualties, some residents complained that there was nowhere to go because many neighborhoods had received the same message. There were allegations that Israeli bombs landed near civilian structures such as schools, and some claim that Israel was deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians.

On January 17, 2009, Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire. In response, Hamas announced a one week ceasefire the following day, providing Israel with time to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip. In July, Khaled Mashal, Hamas's political bureau chief, expressed Hamas's willingness to cooperate with a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

This cooperation included the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with the condition that Palestinian refugees be granted the right to return to Israel and East Jerusalem be recognized as the new states capital. By August, Mashal expressed readiness to engage in dialog with the Obama administration, noting that their policies were more favorable than those of former US President George W Bush. Mashal said, In March 2012, Mahmoud Abbas made the remarkable statement that there were no political differences between Hamas and Fatah, having reached an agreement on a joint political platform and a truce with Israel.

When commenting on relations with Hamas, in an interview with Al Jazeera, Abbas revealed, We agreed that the period of calm would be not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank, adding that we also agreed on a peaceful, popular resistance against Israel, the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, and that the peace talks would continue if Israel halted settlement construction and accepted our conditions. Two years later, there was an agreement to form a compromise unity government. With elections scheduled for late 2014.

However, these elections did not take place, and following a new agreement, the next Palestinian general election was planned for the end of March 2021, but did not occur either. In 2013, despite several weeks of indirect three-way diplomacy between representatives of Hamas, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, no agreement was reached. Inter-Palestinian reconciliation talks stalled, leading to a series of five rocket strikes on Israel by Hamas during President Obama's visit to Israel.

On the 8th of July 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge after the kidnaping and murder of three Israeli teenagers and to counter increased Hamas rocket fire from Gaza. The bloody conflict concluded with a permanent cease fire after 7 weeks, resulting in more than 2200 casualties and over 10,000 wounded. Between 2018 and 2019, Hamas participated in the Great March of Return along the Gaza border with Israel, resulting in the loss of at least 183 Palestinian lives.

This was a series of demonstrations held every Friday in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza-Israel border from March 30th, 2018, to December 27, 2019. During this deadly confrontation, a total of 223 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces. The demonstrators called for the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the lands from which they were displaced, namely in Israel.

They also protested Israel's land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip and the United States, recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In May 2021, tensions escalated in Sheikh Jarrah and the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, leading to renewed clashes between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. After 11 days of intense fighting, the conflict resulted in the loss of at least 243 lives in Gaza and 12 in Israel.

On October 7th, 2023, Hamas initiated an invasion into Israel. In the months leading up to the attack, Hamas had conveyed misleading information to Israeli intelligence, indicating a lack of intent for conflict. The attack commenced in the early morning with a barrage of over 3000 rockets launched from the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip into Israel.

Simultaneously, some 2500 Palestinian militants breached the Gaza Israel barrier. Inexplicably, there was little resistance to the invading force along the usually highly secure border. Attackers overran multiple military and police facilities quickly, allowing them to reach 14 miles in from the border.

At least 1400 Israelis lost their lives to the hands of Hamas militants. 260 civilians were massacred and a large number injured. At the "Supernova Sukkot Gathering”, an open air music festival held to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot near the Re'im kibbutz.

Many were also taken hostage. This attack marked the most significant act of terrorism in the history of the state of Israel. The assault was part of what Hamas referred to as Operation Al-Aqsa flood, which included massacres of hundreds of other Israeli and international civilians in nearby communities such as Netiv HaAsara, Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, and Holit, on the same day.

Unarmed civilians, hostages and captured Israeli soldiers were transported to the Gaza Strip, including women and children. Israel responded with retaliatory strikes before officially declaring war on Hamas a day later. On October 13th, 2023, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, including Gaza City.

He emphasized the need to distinguish between civilians and terrorists, stating The war between Hamas and Israel continues.