Hamas has promoted Palestinian nationalism in anIslamic context.[33] While initially seeking a state in all of formerMandatory Palestine it began acquiescing to 1967 borders in the agreements it signed with Fatah in2005,2006 and2007.[34][35][36] In 2017, Hamas released anew charter[37] that supported a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders without recognizing Israel.[38][39][40] Hamas's repeated offers of atruce (for a period of 10–100 years[41]) based on the 1967 borders are seen by many as consistent with atwo-state solution,[42][43] while others state that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former Mandatory Palestine.[44] While the1988 Hamas charter was widely described asantisemitic,[45] Hamas's 2017 charter removed the antisemitic language and said Hamas's struggle was withZionists, not Jews.[46][47][48][49] It has been debated whether the charter has reflected an actual change in policy.[50][51]
Hamas is anacronym of theArabic phraseحركة المقاومة الإسلامية orḤarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement". This acronym, HMS, wasglossed in the1988 Hamas Covenant[62] by the Arabic wordḥamās (حماس) which itself means "zeal", "strength", or "bravery".[63]
Hamas was established in 1987, and allegedly has its origins inEgypt'sMuslim Brotherhood movement, which had been active in theGaza Strip since the 1950s and gained influence through a network of mosques and various charitable and social organizations. Unlike other Palestinian factions, after theIsraeli occupation of Gaza in 1967, the Brotherhood in Gaza refused to join the resistance boycott against Israel.[64] In the 1980s, it emerged as a powerful political factor, challenging the influence of thePLO, whoseFatah faction it had played a core role in creating.[64] In December 1987, the Brotherhood adopted a more nationalist and activist line under the name of Hamas.[65] Hamas was initially discreetly supported by Israel as a counter-balance to the secularPLO.[66] During the 1990s and early 2000s, the organization conducted numerous suicide bombings and other attacks against Israel.[67]
In the Palestinian legislative election of January 2006, Hamas gained a large majority of seats in thePalestinian Parliament, defeating the rulingFatah party. After the elections, conflicts arose between Hamas and Fatah, which they were unable to resolve.[68][69][70] In June 2007, Hamas defeated Fatah in aseries of violent clashes, and since that time Hamas has governed theGaza portion of thePalestinian Territories, while at the same time they were ousted from government positions in theWest Bank.[71][72]Israel andEgypt then imposed aneconomic blockade on Gaza and largely sealed their borders with the territory.[73][74]
After acquiring control of Gaza, Hamas-affiliated and other militias launched rocket attacks upon Israel, which Hamas ceased in June 2008 following anEgyptian-brokered ceasefire.[75] The ceasefire broke down late in 2008, with each side accusing the other of responsibility.[76] In late December 2008,Israel attacked Gaza,[77] withdrawing its forces in mid-January 2009.[78] Since 2009, Hamas has faced multiple military confrontations with Israel, notably the 2012 and 2014 Gaza Wars, leading to substantial casualties. Hamas has maintained control over Gaza, often clashing with the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah. Efforts at reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah have seen limited success. Hamas continued to face international isolation and blockades, while engaging in sporadic rocket attacks and tunnel construction activities against Israel.
On 31 July 2024,Ismail Haniyeh wasassassinated inTehran, after attending the inauguration ceremony of Iranian presidentMasoud Pezeshkian.[84] In August 2024,Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, was elected chairman of the group, replacing Haniyeh. Per Hamas officials, he was elected due to his considerable popularity in theArab andIslamic worlds following the7 October attacks and his strong connections with Iran and the "Axis of Resistance," an informal Iranian-led political and military coalition.[85][86] On 16 October 2024, IDF troopskilled Sinwar during a routine patrol and a chance encounter in southern Rafah.[87] In January 2025, theWall Street Journal, citing Israeli sources, reported that Sinwar's younger brother,Mohammed Sinwar (akaShadow), was leading Hamas. It's sources said that Israel were "working hard to find him" and that Izz al-Din Haddad, of al-Qassam Brigades, were the two most senior commanders in the Gaza Strip.[3] On 19 January 2025,a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect.
The founder of Hamas, sheikhAhmed Yassin, has offered Israel a ten-yearhudna, Arabic word forarmistice, in return for complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories captured in the 1967 war and establishing a Palestinian state in West Bank and Gaza. Later, Yassin has stated that thishudna could be renewed for 30, 40 or even 100 years.[95][96] During thehudna both the Israelis and Palestinians would refrain from any violent attacks on the other. UnderIslamic international law, a hudna is a binding and theQur'an prohibits its violation.[97] Hamas's spokesperson,Ahmed Yousef, has said that a "hudna" is more than a ceasefire and it "obliges parties to use the period to seek a permanent, non-violent resolution to their differences."[98]
Hamas first proposed Israel with a hudna, long-term armistice, in 1999. In exchange Israel would have to end the occupation of West Bank and Gaza Strip and release allPalestinian prisoners.[97] The 1999 proposal did not mention the issues of the return of the Palestinian refugees or Hamas’s recognition of Israel, but interviewed Hamas leaders in 2010 added that theright of return should be accepted in principle by Israel (without direct actual implementation). Israel and Hamas should use the period of calm (armistice) for negotiating these two issues; if they would also be settled the temporary peace would convert into a permanent peace agreement.[97]
In 2006, Ismail Haniyeh, shortly after beingelected asPrime Minister, sent messages both to US PresidentGeorge W. Bush and to Israel's leaders, offering a long-term truce. Neither Israel nor the United States responded.[99] Haniyeh's proposal reportedly was a fifty-year armistice with Israel, if a Palestinian state is created along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.[96] A Hamas official added that the armistice would renew automatically each time.[100] In mid-2006,University of Maryland's Jerome Segal suggested that a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and a truce for many years could be considered Hamas'sde facto recognition of Israel.[101] A similar proposal was once again offered by Hamas to Israel in November 2006.[102]
In November 2008, in a meeting, on Gaza Strip soil, with 11European members of parliaments, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh re-stated that Hamas was willing to accept a Palestinian state "inthe territories of 1967" (Gaza Strip andWest Bank), and offered Israel a long-term truce if Israel recognized thePalestinians' national rights; and stated that Israel rejected this proposal.[103] A Hamas finance minister around 2018 contended that such a "long-term ceasefire as understood by Hamas and a two-state settlement are the same".[104]
Mkhaimer Abusada, a political scientist atAl Azhar University, wrote in 2008 that Hamas talks "of hudna [temporary ceasefire], not of peace or reconciliation with Israel. They believe over time they will be strong enough to liberate all historic Palestine."[105] Some scholars have noted that alongside offering a long-term truce, Hamas retains its objective of establishing one state in formerMandatory Palestine.[44] Hamas originally proposed a 10-year truce, orhudna, to Israel, contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin indicated that such truce could be extended for 30, 40, or even 100 years, but it would never signal a recognition of Israel. A Hamas official said that having an indefinite truce with Israel doesn't contradict Hamas's lack of recognition of Israel, comparing it to theIrish Republican Army's willingness to accept a permanent armistice with theUnited Kingdom without recognizing the UK's sovereignty over Northern Ireland.[41]
Recognition of Israel
Hamas leaders have repeatedly emphasized they do not recognize Israel.[37] But Hamas has also repeatedly accepted the 1967 borders in signed agreements (in 2005,[36] 2006,[34] and 2007[106]) and in its 2017 charter.[94] Some scholars saw Hamas' acceptance of the 1967 borders as a tacit acceptance of another entity on the other side,[92][93][94] while others state that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former Mandatory Palestine.[44][107][108][109] Whether Hamas would recognize Israel in a future peace agreement is debated.[110][111][112] Others argue that the long term objective and lack of official recognition of Israel is merely maintained as a bargaining chip for future negotiations.[113] Several scholars have compared Hamas's lack of recognition of Israel toLikud's lack of recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.[114][115][116][117][113]
The 1988 Hamas charter strongly rejected any recognition of Israel.[118] In 1995 Hamas repeated this rejection.[119] However, after Hamas won the 2006 elections, it did not implement then 1988 Charter as policy, and instead agreed to work with the existing Palestinian political system.[118] In the2007 Mecca agreement, Hamas agreed to respect previous agreements between Fatah and Israel, including the Oslo Accords in which the PLO recognized Israel.[106] Both in the 2007 agreement and in the 2006Palestinian Prisoners' Document, Hamas agreed to a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. Scholars see this as "implicit" recognition of Israel because by accepting a Palestinian state limited to the 1967 borders, Hamas acknowledged the existence of an entity on the other side.[93][94]
Mousa Abu Marzook, then the vice-president of Hamas' Political Bureau, explained his party's position in 2011: while Hamas did not recognize Israel as a state, it considered the existence of Israel as "amr waqi" (or fait accompli, meaning something that has happened and cannot be changed).[120] He called this "de facto recognition" of Israel.[120] Likewise, Graham Usher writes that while Hamas does not consider Israel to be legitimate, it has accepted Israel as political reality.[121]
In 2017, Hamas once again accepted the 1967 borders in its new charter, that "drop[ped] the call for the destruction of Israel from its manifesto".[94][92] While it did not abrogate the old charter, Hamas leaders explained that "The original charter has now become a historical document and part of an earlier stage in our evolution. It will remain in the movement's bookshelf as a record of our past."[122] Khaled Mashal stated that the new document reflected "our position for now."[123]
Tareq Baconi notes that Hamas has said it would accept mutual recognition of Israel in any consensus peace deal approved by other Palestinian parties and the population in a referendum.[113] To explain why it withholds formal recognition, Baconi argues that Hamas has learned from the fact that, in the 1993 Oslo Accords, the PLO made a "historic concession" in recognizing Israel on 78% of the land of historic Palestine (along the 1967 borders), but was unable to convince Israel to recognize Palestine on the remaining 22% of the land. Having already recognized Israel, the PLO was unable to use recognition to extract any further concessions from Israel, thus according to Baconi the lesson for Hamas was that you can't negotiate from a position of weakness, and the issue of formal recognition of Israel is kept as bargaining chip for negotiations.[124][113]
Some scholars, including Baconi,Ilan Pappé andNoam Chomsky, have argued that Hamas has offered more to the Israelis than Israeli major parties including Likud have offered in return to the Palestinians, both with its de facto recognition of the 1967 borders and its pledge to accept the recognition of Israel in any future peace deal that has the consensus and approval of the Palestinian parties and population.[113][125][126]Rashid Khalidi said in November 2023: "It is well-established that Israeli major governing parties like Likud have refused to recognize Palestinian statehood under any conditions, the constant references to "Judea and Samaria", and this has only increased in recent times with the Knesset passing a resolution opposing Palestinian statehood."[127]
Allegations of antisemitism
The 1988 Hamas charter proclaims that jihad against Jews is required until Judgement Day.[128][129] Article 7 of the 1988 governing charter of Hamas "openly dedicate(s) Hamas to genocide against the Jewish people".[130] More authors have characterized the violent language against all Jews in the original Hamas charter asgenocidal,[131]incitement to genocide,[132][133] orantisemitic.[134][17] The charter attributes collective responsibility to Jews, not just Israelis, for various global issues, including both World Wars.[135]
On the other hand, Hamas's 2017 charter removed the anti-Semitic language, saying that their struggle is againstZionism and not Jews,[46][48][49] while also advancing goals for a Palestinian state which are seen by many as being consistent with a two-state solution.[139][43]Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, said in a 1988 interview, reacting to accusations that 'Hamas hate Jews':
"We don't hate Jews and fight Jews because they are Jewish. They are a people of faith and we are a people of faith, and we love all people of faith. If my brother, from my own mother and father and my own faith takes my home and expels me from it, I will fight him. I will fight my cousin if he takes my home and expels me from it. So when a Jew takes my home and expels me from it, I will fight him. I don't fight other countries because I want to be at peace with them, I love all people and wish peace for them, even the Jews. The Jews lived with us all of our lives and we never assaulted them, and they held high positions in government and ministries. But if they take my home and make me a refugee like 4 million Palestinians in exile? Who has more right to this land? The Russian immigrant who left this land 2000 years ago or the one who left 40 years ago? We don't hate the Jews, we only ask for them to give us our rights."[140]
In 1999, the Hamas leadership, in a memorandum to European diplomats, proposed a long-term ceasefire with Israel in return for Israeli withdrawal of military troops and civilian illegal settlements fromWest Bank andGaza Strip, release of allPalestinian prisoners, and the right of Palestinian self-determination (see also sectionTruce proposals).[97]SheikhAhmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, who wasassassinated by Israel in 2004, at unreported date has offered Israel a ten-yearhudna (truce, armistice) in return for establishment of a Palestinian state in theWest Bank andGaza. Yassin later added, thehudna could be renewed, even for longer periods, but would never signal a recognition of Israel.[41]
In 2005, Hamas signed thePalestinian Cairo Declaration, which confirms "the right of the Palestinian people to resistance in order to end the occupation, establish a Palestinian state with full sovereignty with Jerusalem as its capital" (etc.), aiming to reconcile several Palestinian factions but not describing specific steps or strategies towards Israel.[144]
2006–2007: 1967 borders and a truce
In March 2006, after winning an absolute majority in the2006 Palestinian legislative elections, Hamas published its government program in which Hamas claimed sovereignty for thePalestinian territories but did not repeat its claim to all ofmandatory Palestine, instead declared their willingness to have contacts with Israel "in all mundane affairs: business, trade, health, and labor".[145] The program further stated: "The question of recognizing Israel is not the jurisdiction of one faction, nor the government, but a decision for the Palestinian people."[146]Since then until today, spokesmen of Hamas seem to disagree about their attitudes towards Israel, and debates are running as to whether the original 1988 Hamas charter has since March 2006 become obsolete and irrelevant or on the contrary still spells out Hamas's genuine and ultimate goals (see:1988 Hamas charter, § Relevance).
The March 2006 Hamas legislative program was further explained on 6 June 2006 by Hamas' MP Riad Mustafa: "Hamas will never recognize Israel", but if a popular Palestinian referendum would endorse a peace agreement including recognition of Israel, "we would of course accept their verdict".[146]
Also on 6 June 2006,Ismail Haniyeh, senior political leader of Hamas and at that time Prime Minister of thePalestinian National Authority, sent a letter to US PresidentGeorge W. Bush (viaUniversity of Maryland'sJerome Segal), stating: "We are so concerned about stability and security in the area that we don't mind having a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and offering a truce for many years", and asking Bush for a dialogue with the Hamas government. A similar message he sent to Israel's leaders.[101][99] Haniyeh had reportedly proposed a fifty-year armistice.[147] Neither Washington nor Israel replied.[101][99] NuancingsheikhAhmed Yassin's statements before 2004 about ahudna (truce) with Israel (see above), Hamas's (former) senior adviserAhmed Yousef has said (at unknown date) that a "hudna" (truce, armistice) is more than a ceasefire and "obliges parties to use the period to seek a permanent, non-violent resolution to their differences."[98]
On 28 June 2006, Hamas signed thesecond version of (originally) 'the Palestinians' Prisoners Document' which supports the quest for a Palestinian state "on all territories occupied in 1967".[35][89][90] This document also recognized the PLO as "the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people", and states that "the negotiations" should be conducted by PLO andPresident of the Palestinian National Authority and eventual agreements must be ratified by either thePalestinian National Council or a general referendum "held in the homeland and the Diaspora". Leila Seurat also notes that this document "implicitly recognized the June 1967 borders, agreed on the construction of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as a capital and accepted limitations to the resistance in the territories occupied in 1967", and was produced following consultations with the entire Political Bureau.[148]
In an August 2006 interview withThe New York Times,Ismail Haniyeh, senior political leader of Hamas and then Prime Minister of thePalestinian National Authority, said: "We have no problem with a sovereign Palestinian state over all our lands within the 1967 borders, living in calm."[149] In November 2006, Hamas again proposed a truce for many years to Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders.[102]
In February 2007, Hamas signed theFatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement, stressing "the importance of national unity as basis for (...) confronting the occupation" and "activate and reform thePLO", but without further details about how to confront or deal with Israel.[150] At the time of signing that 2007 agreement,Mousa Abu Marzook, Deputy Chairman of theHamas Political Bureau, underlinedhis view of the Hamas position: "I can recognize the presence of Israel as a fait accompli (amr wâqi') or, as the French say, a de facto recognition, but this does not mean that I recognize Israel as a state".[151] More Hamas leaders, through the years, have made similar statements.[37][113]
In April 2008, former US PresidentJimmy Carter met withKhaled Mashal, the recognized Hamas leader since 2004. Mashal said to Carter, Hamas would "accept a Palestinian state on the1967 borders" and accept the right of Israel "to live as a neighbour" if such a deal would be approved by a referendum among the "Palestinians". Nevertheless, Mashal did not offer a unilateral ceasefire (as Carter had suggested him to do). The US State Department showed utter indifference for Mashal's new stance; Israel's Prime MinisterEhud Olmert even refused to meet with Carter inJerusalem, not to mention paying attention to the new Hamas stance.[152]
On 19 June 2008, Hamas and Israel agreed to a six-month cease-fire,[153] which Hamas declared finished at 18 December[154] amidst mutual accusations of breaching the agreed conditions.[153]
Meanwhile, in November 2008, in a meeting with 11European members of parliaments, Hamas senior officialIsmail Haniyeh repeated what he had written in June 2006 to U.S. President George W. Bush but with one extra condition: "the Hamas government had agreed to accept a Palestinian state that followedthe 1967 borders and to offer Israel a long-termhudna (truce), if Israel recognized thePalestinians' national rights" – a proposal which he said Israel had declined.[103]
In September 2009,Ismail Haniyeh,head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, wrote to UN Secretary GeneralBan Ki-moon that Hamas would support any steps leading to a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders: "We would never thwart efforts to create an independent Palestinian state with borders [from] June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital."[155]
In May 2010,Khaled Mashal, chairman of theHamas Political Bureau (thus Hamas' highest leader), again stated that a state "Israel" living nextto "a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967" would be acceptable for Hamas – but only if a referendum among "the Palestinian people" would endorse this arrangement. In November 2010,Ismail Haniyeh,[f] also proposed a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, though added three further conditions: "resolution ofthe issue of refugees", "the release of Palestinian prisoners", and "Jerusalem as its capital"; and he made the same reservation as Mashal in May 2010 had made, that a Palestinian referendum needed to endorse this arrangement.[157][158]
On December 1, 2010,Ismail Haniyeh (senior Hamas leader, see above), in a news conference inGaza, repeated his November 2010 message: "We accept a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the resolution of the issue of refugees," but only if such arrangement would be endorsed by "a referendum" held among all Palestinians: in Gaza, West Bank, and the diaspora.[159]
In May 2011, Hamas andFatah signed an agreement inCairo, agreeing to form a ('national unity') government and appoint the Ministers "in consensus between them", but it contained no remarks about how to confront or deal with Israel.[160] In February 2012, Hamas andFatah signed theFatah–Hamas Doha Agreement, agreeing (again) to form an interim national consensus government, which (again) did not materialize.
Still in February 2012, according to thePalestinian authority (either theFatah branch in West Bank or the Hamas branch in Gaza), Hamas forswore the use of violence against Israel ("ceasefire", an Israeli news website called it), followed by a few weeks without violence between Hamas and Israel.[161][162] But violence between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, also involving Hamas,would soon resume.
On 1 May 2017, after much internal discussion, Hamas and itsHamas Political Bureau chiefKhaled Mashal published "A Document of General Principles and Policies", also known as the2017 Hamas charter.[122] In the new charter Hamas accepts a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, without recognizing Israel.[163][164] When asked, Hamas leaders explained that "The original charter has now become a historical document and part of an earlier stage in our evolution. It will remain in the movement's bookshelf as a record of our past."[122] Khaled Mashal stated that the new document reflected "our position for now."[123] However, Hamas fell short of formally repudiating the original 1988 charter.[165][166] According to some analysts Hamas did not formally revoke the old charter so as to not alienate some of its base members, who it feared might join rival Islamist factions.[166]
Around 2018, a Hamas finance minister has suggested that a "long-term ceasefire as understood by Hamas [hudna] and a two-state settlement are the same".[43] In 2021 Hamas organized and financed a conference among 250 Gaza citizens about the future management of the State of Palestine following the takeover of Israel which was predicted to come soon. According to the conclusions of the conference, the Jewish Israeli fighters would be killed, while the peaceful individuals could be integrated or be allowed to leave. At the same time the highly skilled and educated would be prevented from leaving.[167][168] In 2020Ismail Haniyeh said in an interview that one of the principles of Hamas was "Palestinefrom the sea to the river."[169] In 2022, Yahya Sinwar cautioned Israelis that Hamas would one day "march through your walls to uproot your regime."[170]
7 Oct. 2023–present
In aflash attack on 7 October 2023, Hamas and associates murdered 767 civilians and killed a further 376 security personnel of the state ofIsrael.Israel retaliated with warfare in the Gaza Strip, aiming at Hamas militants but also harming much civilian infrastructure and directly killing tens of thousands of civilians, as admitted even by Israel (not counting the presumed multiple number of indirect deaths). A number of conflicting statements since then were made by Hamas senior leaders regarding the Hamas policy towards Israel.
On 24 October,Ghazi Hamad—member of thedecision-making Hamas Political Bureau[171]—explained the 7 October attack: "Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation". "We are called a nation ofmartyrs and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs". Hamad called the creation of the Jewish state "illogical": "(...) We are the victims of the occupation. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do".[172][173]
On 1 November 2023,Ismail Haniyeh, then incumbent highest Hamas leader (butassassinated by Israel 31 July 2024), stated that if Israel agreed to a ceasefire in theGaza war, if humanitarian corridors would be opened, and aid would be allowed into Gaza,Hamas would be "ready for political negotiations for a two-state solution withJerusalem as the capital of Palestine". Haniyeh also praised the support of movements inYemen,Iraq,Syria andLebanon for the Palestinian struggle.[174]
In January 2024Khaled Mashal, a former Hamas leader, slighted "The West" and "the two-state solution", saying "The 1967 borders represent 21% of Palestine, which is practically one fifth of its land, so this cannot be accepted", and adding that "our right in Palestine from the sea to the river" cannot be waived.[175] However, he reiterated that Hamas "accepts a state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, with complete independence and with the right of return without recognising the legitimacy of the Zionist entity."[175]
Hamas Member of ParliamentKhalil al-Hayya, also deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, told the Associated Press in April 2024 that Hamas is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.[176] TheAssociated Press considered this a "significant concession", but presumed thatIsrael would not even want to consider this scenario following the October 2023 attack.[176]
Reactions
The vision that Hamas articulated in itsoriginal 1988 charter resembles the vision of certain Zionist groups regarding the same territory, as noted by several authors.[158][177][178] This may suggest that Hamas's views were inspired by those Zionist perspectives.[179][180]
Several (other) authors have interpreted the1988 Hamas charter as a call for "armed struggle against Israel".[88]
In 2009, Taghreed El-khodary and Ethan Bronner, writing in theNew York Times, said that Hamas' position is that it doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist, but is willing to accept as a compromise a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.[181]
Writing forMiddle Eastern Studies, Imad Alsoos says that Hamas has both a short and long-term objective: "The short-term objective aims to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, while the long-term objective still strives to liberate Mandate Palestine in its entirety.[44] Establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza (as part of ahudna deal) would be Hamas's interim solution, during which Israel would not be formally recognized.[44][182]
In mid-2006,University of Maryland'sJerome Segal suggested that a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and a truce for many years could be considered Hamas's de facto recognition of Israel.[101]
As of January 2007, Israeli, American and European news media considered Hamas to be the "dominant political force" within thePalestinian territories.[183][184][185]
JournalistZaki Chehab wrote in 2007 that Hamas's public concessions following the 2006 elections were "window-dressing" and that the organisation would never recognise Israel's right to exist.[186]
As to the question whether Hamas would be capable to enter into a long-term non-aggression treaty with Israel without being disloyal to their understanding of Islamic law and God's word,the Atlantic magazine columnistJeffrey Goldberg in January 2009 stated: "I tend to think not, though I've noticed over the years a certain plasticity of belief among some Hamas ideologues. Also, this is the Middle East, so anything is possible".[187]
ProfessorMohammed Ayoob in his 2020 book, while discussing the2017 Hamas charter, stated that “acceptance of the 1967 borders can be interpreted as a de facto acceptance of the preconditions for a two-state solution”.[188]
The gender ideology outlined in the Hamas charter, the importance of women in the religious-nationalist project of liberation is asserted as no lesser than that of males. Their role was defined primarily as one of manufacturing males and caring for their upbringing and rearing, though the charter recognized they could fight for liberation without obtaining their husband's permission and in 2002 their participation in jihad was permitted.[194] The doctrinal emphasis on childbearing and rearing as woman's primary duty is not so different from Fatah's view of women in the First Intifada and it also resembles the outlook of Jewish settlers, and over time it has been subjected to change.[195][196] A few were worried about imposition of Islamic dress codes, but most Christians in the Gaza Strip said these worries were baseless were not worried about the Hamas government.[193]
In 1989, during the First Intifada, a small number of Hamas followers[197] campaigned for polygamy, and also insisted women stay at home and be segregated from men. In the course of this campaign, women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed, with the result that the hijab was being worn 'just to avoid problems on the streets'.[198] The harassment dropped drastically when, after 18 months, theUnified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) condemned it,[199] though similar campaigns reoccurred.[citation needed] Polygamy is practised in someBedouin communities in Israel, and some Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, particularly in the Negev desert (Arabic pronunciation: Naqab) surrounding the Gaza Strip.[200][201][202][203][204]
Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, some of its members have attempted to impose Islamic dress or thehijab head covering on women.[181][205] The government's "Islamic Endowment Ministry" has deployed Virtue Committee members to warn citizens of the dangers of immodest dress, card playing, and dating.[206] There are no government laws imposing dress and other moral standards, and the Hamas education ministry reversed one effort to impose Islamic dress on students.[181] There has also been successful resistance to attempts by local Hamas officials to impose Islamic dress on women.[207] Hamas officials deny having any plans to impose Islamic law, one legislator stating that "What you are seeing are incidents, not policy," and that Islamic law is the desired standard "but we believe in persuasion".[206]
In 2013,UNRWA canceled its annual marathon in Gaza after Hamas prohibited women from participating in the race.[208]
In the West Bank
In 2005, the human rights organizationFreemuse released a report titled "Palestine:Taliban-like attempts to censor music", which said thatPalestinian musicians feared that harsh religious laws against music and concerts will be imposed since Hamas group scored political gains in the Palestinian Authority local elections of 2005.[209]
The attempt by Hamas to dictate a cultural code of conduct in the 1980s and early 1990s led to a violent fighting between different Palestinian sectors. Hamas members reportedly burned down stores that stocked videos they deemed indecent and destroyed books they described as "heretical".[210]
In 2005, an outdoor music-and-dance performance inQalqiliya was suddenly banned by the Hamas-led municipality, for the reason that such an event would be "haram", i.e. forbidden by Islam.[211] The municipality also ordered that music no longer be played in the Qalqiliya zoo, and mufti Akrameh Sabri issued areligious edict affirming the municipality decision.[210] In response, the Palestinian national poetMahmoud Darwish warned that "There are Taliban-type elements in our society, and this is a very dangerous sign."[209][212][213]
The Palestinian columnist Mohammed Abd Al-Hamid, a resident of Ramallah, wrote that this religious coercion could cause the migration of artists, and said "The religious fanatics in Algeria destroyed every cultural symbol, shattered statues and rare works of art and liquidated intellectuals and artists, reporters and authors, ballet dancers and singers—are we going to imitate the Algerian and Afghani examples?"[210]
Erdoğan's Turkey as a role model
Some Hamas members have stated that the model of Islamic government that Hamas seeks to emulate is that of Turkey under the rule ofRecep Tayyip Erdoğan. The foremost members to distance Hamas from the practices of the Taliban and to publicly support the Erdoğan model wereAhmed Yousef andGhazi Hamad, advisers to Prime Minister Hanieh.[214][215] Yusuf, the Hamas deputy foreign minister, reflected this goal in an interview with a Turkish newspaper, stating that while foreign public opinion equates Hamas with the Taliban oral-Qaeda, the analogy is inaccurate. Yusuf described the Taliban as "opposed to everything", including education and women's rights, while Hamas wants to establish good relations between the religious and secular elements of society and strives for human rights, democracy and an open society.[216] According to professorYezid Sayigh ofKing's College in London, how influential this view is within Hamas is uncertain, since both Ahmad Yousef and Ghazi Hamad were dismissed from their posts as advisers to Hamas Prime MinisterIsmail Hanieh in October 2007.[214] Both have since been appointed to other prominent positions within the Hamas government. Khaled al-Hroub of the West Bank-based and anti-Hamas[217] Palestinian dailyAl Ayyam added that despite claims by Hamas leaders that it wants to repeat the Turkish model of Islam, "what is happening on the ground in reality is a replica of the Taliban model of Islam."[218][219]
Hamas published its charter in August 1988, wherein it defined itself as a chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its desire to establish "an Islamic state throughout Palestine".[220] The foundational document was written by a single individual and made public without going through the usual prior consultation process.[h] It was then signed on August 18, 1988. ItcomparesIsraeli attacks on civilians to that by Nazi Germany.[222] The charter also claims all of historical Palestine[223][224][i][226] but promises religious coexistence under Islam's rule.[227][228] Article 6 states that the movement's aim is to "raise the banner ofAllah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned".[142][229] The charter rejects atwo-state solution, stating thatthe conflict cannot be resolved "except throughjihad".
Many scholars have pointed out that both the 1988 Hamas's charter and theLikud party platform sought full control of the land, thus denouncing the two-state solution.[114][115][116]
In May 2017, Hamas published a document titled "A Document of General Principles and Policies". While this policy document was much shorter than the 1988 charter, and Hamas leaders stated that it did not replace the 1988 charter,[165] it covers some of the same topics and is referred to as the "2017 charter".[50] It accepted a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders,without recognizing Israel, which is seen by many as being consistent with atwo-state solution,[42][43] while others state that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in formerMandatory Palestine.[44] The charter also argued that armed resistance to occupation is supported by international law.[50][230][44][231] Hamas has described these changes as adaptation within a specific context, as opposed to abandonment of its principles.[232]
While the1988 Hamas charter was widely described asantisemitic,[45] Hamas's 2017 charter removed the antisemitic language and said Hamas's struggle was withZionists, not Jews.[46][47][48][49] Some sources maintain its condemnation of Zionists is antisemitic:[128][48] it describes Zionism as the enemy of all Muslims and a danger to international security, what author J.S. Spoerl in 2020 has disqualified as "hardly (...) a serious repudiation of anti-Semitism".[51] Hroub, though not responding directly, disagrees, writing that the 2017 document shows that Hamas is stressing the nationalist/resistance aspects of its purpose, providing a "clear assertion of the right to a national liberation struggle on the basis of international law."[50]
Hamas inherited from its predecessor a tripartite structure that consisted in the provision of social services, of religious training and military operations under a Shura Council. Traditionally it had four distinct functions: (a) a charitable social welfare division (dawah); (b) a military division for procuring weapons and undertaking operations (al-Mujahideen al Filastinun); (c) a security service (Jehaz Aman); and (d) a media branch (A'alam).[233] Hamas has both an internal leadership within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and an external leadership, split between a Gaza group directed byMousa Abu Marzook from his exile first in Damascus and then in Egypt, and a Kuwaiti group (Kuwaidia) underKhaled Mashal.[234][needs update] The Kuwaiti group of Palestinian exiles began to receive extensive funding from theGulf States after its leader Mashal broke withYasser Arafat's decision to side withSaddam Hussein in theInvasion of Kuwait, with Mashal insisting that Iraq withdraw.[235] On May 6, 2017,Hamas' Shura Council choseIsmail Haniyeh to become the new leader, to replace Mashal.[236]
The exact structure of the organization is unclear as it is shrouded in a veil of secrecy in order to conceal operational activities. Formally, Hamas maintains the wings are separate and independent, but this has been questioned. It has been argued that its wings are both separate and combined for reasons of internal and external political necessity. Communication between the political and military wings of Hamas is made difficult by the thoroughness of Israeli intelligence surveillance and the existence of an extensive base of informants. After the assassination ofAbdel Aziz al-Rantisi the political direction of the militant wing was diminished and field commanders were given wider discretional autonomy over operations.[237]
Shura Council and Political Bureau
Hamas's overarching governing body is theMajlis al-Shura (Shura Council), based on theQuranic concept of consultation and popular assembly (shura), which Hamas leaders argue provides for democracy within an Islamic framework.[238] As the organization grew more complex and Israeli pressure increased, the Shura Council was renamed the General Consultative Council, with members elected from local council groups. The council elects the 15-member Political Bureau (al-Maktab al-Siyasi)[239] that makes decisions for Hamas. Representatives come from Gaza, the West Bank, leaders in exile andIsraeli prisons.[240] The Political Bureau was based inDamascus until January 2012, when Hamas's support for theSyrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad during theSyrian civil war led to the office's relocation toQatar.[240][241]
Hamas, like its predecessor the Muslim Brotherhood, assumed the administration of Gaza'swaqf properties, endowments which extend over 10% of all real estate in the Gaza Strip, with 2,000 acres of agricultural land held in religious trusts, together with numerous shops, rentable apartments and public buildings.[242]
In the first five years of the 1st Intifada, the Gaza economy, 50% of which depended on external sources of income, plummeted by 30–50% as Israel closed its labour market and remittances from thePalestinian expatriates in the Gulf countries dried up following the 1991–1992Gulf War.[243] At the 1993 Philadelphia conference, Hamas leaders' statements indicated that they readGeorge H. W. Bush's outline of aNew World Order as embodying atacit aim to destroy Islam, and that therefore funding should focus on enhancing the Islamic roots of Palestinian society and promoting jihad, which also means zeal for social justice, in the occupied territories.[244] Hamas became particularly fastidious about maintaining separate resourcing for its respective branches of activity—military, political and social services.[245] It has had a holding company in East Jerusalem (Beit al-Mal), a 20% stake in Al Aqsa International Bank which served as its financial arm, the Sunuqrut Global Group and al-Ajouli money-changing firm.[246]
By 2011, Hamas's budget, calculated to be roughly US$70 million, derived even more substantially (85%) from foreign, rather than internal Palestinian, sources.[246] Only two Israeli-Palestinian sources figure in a list seized in 2004, while the other contributors were donor bodies located in Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Germany, the United States, United Arab Emirates, Italy and France. Much of the money raised comes from sources that direct their assistance to what Hamas describes as its charitable work for Palestinians, but investments in support of its ideological position are also relevant, with Persian Gulf States and Saudi Arabia prominent in the latter. Matthew Levitt claims that Hamas also taps money from corporations, criminal organizations and financial networks that support terror.[247] It is also alleged that it engages in cigarette and drug smuggling, multimedia copyright infringement and credit card fraud.[246] The United States, Israel and the EU have shut down many charities and organs that channel money to Hamas, such as theHoly Land Foundation for Relief.[248] Between 1992 and 2001, this group is said to have provided $6.8 million to Palestinian charities of the $57 million collected. By 2001, it was alleged to have given Hamas $13 million, and was shut down shortly afterwards.[249]
About half of Hamas's funding came from states in the Persian Gulf down to the mid-2000s. Saudi Arabia supplied half of the Hamas budget of $50 million in the early 2000s,[250] but, under US pressure, began to cut its funding by cracking down on Islamic charities and private donor transfers to Hamas in 2004,[251] which by 2006 drastically reduced the flow of money from that area. Iran and Syria, in the aftermath of Hamas's 2006 electoral victory, stepped in to fill the shortfall.[252][253] Saudi funding, negotiated with third parties including Egypt, remained supportive of Hamas as a Sunni group but chose to provide more assistance to the PNA, the electoral loser, when the EU responded to the outcome by suspending its monetary aid.[254] During the 1980s, Iran began to provide 10% of Hamas's funding, which it increased annually until by the 1990s it supplied $30 million.[250] It accounted for $22 million, over a quarter of Hamas's budget, by the late 2000s.[251] According to Matthew Levitt, Iran preferred direct financing to operative groups rather than charities, requiring video proof of attacks.[251][255] Much of the Iran funding is said to be channeled throughHezbollah.[251] After 2006, Iran's willingness to take over the burden of the shortfall created by the drying up of Saudi funding also reflected the geopolitical tensions between the two, since, though Shiite, Iran was supporting a Sunni group traditionally closely linked with the Saudi kingdom.[256] The US imposed sanctions on Iran's Bank Saderat, alleging it had funneled hundreds of millions to Hamas.[257] The US has expressed concerns that Hamas obtains funds through Palestinian and Lebanese sympathizers of Arab descent in theFoz do Iguaçu area of the tri-border region of Latin America, an area long associated with arms trading, drug trafficking, contraband, the manufacture of counterfeit goods, money-laundering and currency fraud. The State Department adds that confirmatory information of a Hamas operational presence there is lacking.[258]
After 2009,sanctions on Iran made funding difficult, forcing Hamas to rely on religious donations by individuals in the West Bank, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Funds amounting to tens of millions of dollars raised in the Gulf states were transferred through theRafah Border Crossing. These were not sufficient to cover the costs of governing the Strip and running the al Qassam Brigades, and when tensions arose with Iran over support of President Assad in Syria, Iran dropped its financial assistance to the government, restricting its funding to the military wing, which meant a drop from $150 million in 2012 to $60 million the following year. A further drop occurred in 2015 when Hamas expressed its criticisms of Iran's role in theYemeni Civil War.[259]
In 2017, the PA government imposed its own sanctions against Gaza, including, among other things, cutting off salaries to thousands of PA employees, as well as financial assistance to hundreds of families in the Gaza Strip. The PA initially said it would stop paying for the electricity and fuel that Israel supplies to the Gaza Strip, but after a year partially backtracked.[260] The Israeli government has allowed millions of dollars from Qatar to be funneled on a regular basis through Israel to Hamas, to replace the millions of dollars the PA had stopped transferring to Hamas. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu explained that letting the money go through Israel meant that it could not be used for terrorism, saying: "Now that we are supervising, we know it's going to humanitarian causes."[261]
According to U.S. officials, as of 2023 Hamas has an investment portfolio that is worth anywhere from 500 million to US$1 billion, including assets in Sudan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates.[262] Hamas has denied such allegations.[263]
In 2024, financial activity in Gaza is mainly carried out via money changers in order to bypass the international financial authorities.[264] Also in 2024, theEuropean Council added six people to its sanctions list for helping fund Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including a senior official from theIranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Three businesses were also added, including companies in Spain and Sudan that functioned as front companies.[265][266]
Social services wing
Hamas developed its social welfare programme by replicating the model established by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. For Hamas, charity and the development of one's community are both prescribed by religion and to be understood as forms of resistance.[267] In Islamic tradition,dawah (lit. transl. "the call to God") obliges the faithful to reach out to others by both proselytising and by charitable works, and typically the latter centre on the mosques which make use of bothwaqf endowment resources and charitable donations (zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam) to fund grassroots services such as nurseries, schools, orphanages, soup kitchens, women's activities, library services and even sporting clubs within a larger context of preaching and political discussions.[268] In the 1990s, some 85% of its budget was allocated to the provision of social services.[269] Hamas has been called perhaps the most significant social services actor in Palestine. By 2000, Hamas or its affiliated charities ran roughly 40% of the social institutions in the West Bank and Gaza and, with other Islamic charities, by 2005, was supporting 120,000 individuals with monthly financial support in Gaza.[270] Part of the appeal of these institutions is that they fill a vacuum in the administration by the PLO of the Palestinian territories, which had failed to cater to the demand for jobs and broad social services, and is widely viewed as corrupt.[271] As late as 2005, the budget of Hamas, drawing on global charity contributions, was mostly tied up in covering running expenses for its social programmes, which extended from the supply of housing, food and water for the needy to more general functions such as financial aid, medical assistance, educational development and religious instruction. A certain accounting flexibility allowed these funds to cover both charitable causes and military operations, permitting transfer from one to the other.[272]
Thedawah infrastructure itself was understood, within the Palestinian context, as providing the soil from which a militant opposition to the occupation would flower.[j] In this regard it differs from the rivalPalestinian Islamic Jihad which lacks any social welfare network, and relies on spectacular terrorist attacks to recruit adherents.[274] In 2007, through funding from Iran, Hamas managed to allocate at a cost of $60 million, monthly stipends of $100 for 100,000 workers, and a similar sum for 3,000 fishermenlaid idle by Israel's imposition of restrictions on fishing offshore, plus grants totalling $45 million to detainees and their families.[275]Matthew Levitt argues that Hamas grants to people are subject to a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of how beneficiaries will support Hamas, with those linked to terrorist activities receiving more than others.[276] Israel holds the families of suicide bombers accountable and bulldozes their homes, whereas the families of Hamas activists who have been killed or wounded during militant operations are given an initial, one-time grant varying between $500–$5,000, together with a $100 monthly allowance. Rent assistance is also given to families whose homes have been destroyed by Israeli bombing though families unaffiliated with Hamas are said to receive less.[196][277]
Until 2007, these activities extended to the West Bank, but, after a PLO crackdown, now continue exclusively in the Gaza Strip.[278] After the2013 Egyptian coup d'état deposed the elected Muslim Brotherhood government ofMohamed Morsi in 2013, Hamas found itself in a financial straitjacket and has since endeavoured to throw the burden of responsibility for public works infrastructure in the Gaza Strip back onto the Palestinian National Authority, but without success.[279]
Al-Aqsa TV is a television channel founded by Hamas.[280] The station began broadcasting in the Gaza Strip on January 9, 2006,[281][282] less than three weeks before thePalestinian legislative elections. It has shown television programs, including some children's television, which deliver antisemitic messages.[283] Hamas has stated that the television station is "an independent media institution that often does not express the views of the Palestinian government headed by Ismail Haniyeh or of the Hamas movement", and that Hamas does not hold antisemitic views.[284] The programming includes ideologically tinged children's shows, news talk, and religiously inspired entertainment.[285] According to theAnti-Defamation League, the station promotes terrorist activity and incites hatred of Jews and Israelis.[282] Al-Aqsa TV is headed by the controversialFathi Ahmad Hammad, chairman of al-Ribat Communications and Artistic Productions—a Hamas-run company that also produces Hamas's radio station,Voice of al-Aqsa, and its biweekly newspaper,The Message.[286]Hamad has made a number of controversial comments, including a speech in which he reportedly stated: 'you have Jews everywhere and we must attack every Jew on the globe by way of slaughtering and killing'[287]
Al-Fateh ("the conqueror") is the Hamas children's magazine, published biweekly in London, and also posted in an online website. It began publication in September 2002, and its 108th issue was released in mid-September 2007. The magazine features stories, poems, riddles, and puzzles, and states it is for "the young builders of the future".[288] According to theAnti-Defamation League, al-Fateh promotes violence and antisemitism, with praise for and encouragement to become suicide bombers, and that it "regularly includes photos of children it claims have been detained, injured or killed by Israeli police, images of children firing slingshots or throwing rocks at Israelis and children holding automatic weapons and firebombs".[289]
Social media
Hamas has traditionally presented itself as a voice of suffering of the Palestinian people. According toTime magazine, a new social media strategy was employed in the wake of the October 7 attack: Hamas asserted itself as the dominant resistance force in the Middle East by recording andbroadcasting the brutality of their attacks.[290]
According to Dr. Harel Horev, historian and researcher of Palestinian affairs at Tel Aviv University, Hamas has used social media to dehumanize Israelis/Jews. According to his research, Hamas took over the most popular accounts on Palestinian networks in a covert manner that did not reveal its involvement. This control gave it the ability to significantly influence the Palestinian discourse online through content that denies the humanity and right to life of Israelis. These included posters, songs and videos glorifying threats; computer games that encourage the murder of Jews; training videos for carrying out effective and indiscriminate stabbing and shooting attacks; and anti-Semitic cartoons as a central means of dehumanizing the Israeli/Jew in the Palestinian online discourse.[291][292]
The General Security Service, formally part of the Hamas political party, operates akin to a governmental body within Gaza. Under the direct oversight of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, it conducts extensive surveillance on Palestinians, compiling files on various individuals including journalists and government critics. This secret police force relies on a network of informants and employs tactics such as censorship and surveillance to maintain control. Before the conflict with Israel, the unit reportedly had a monthly budget of $120,000 and consisted of 856 personnel, including more than 160 individuals paid to spread Hamas propaganda and conduct online attacks against opponents.[293]
Other powerful internal security bodies in Gaza include Military Intelligence, which focuses on Israel, and the Internal Security Service, an arm of theInterior Ministry.[293]
Civilian crisis management
During theCOVID-19 pandemic in Palestine Gaza'sMinistry of the Interior formed a crisis management team, headed by Hamas police officerFaiq Al-Mabhouh.[294][295][296] Mabhouh played a prominent role in communicating with the public about the changing situation. He appeared in video announcements onAl-Aqsa TV and social media channels, and gave interviews to local media to explain changes in restrictions. The Gaza Strip restrictions took the "flattening the curve" approach.[296] The restrictions imposed were similar to most western countries, and more relaxed than thezero COVID policy implemented byChina andtheir neighbors.[295] The Gaza Strip's starter was to avoid totallockdowns using partial measures like weekend lockdowns and curfews. The weekend lockdowns included mosques being closed for Friday prayers. But during times while the mosques were open, one creative measure initiated byGaza’s Ministry of Health was to replace the mosque preachers with doctors who gave health information seminars.[297][295][296]
TheIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is Hamas' military wing.[298][299] While the number of members is known only to the Brigades leadership, Israel estimates the Brigades have a core of several hundred members who receivemilitary style training, including training in Iran and inSyria (before the Syrian Civil War).[300] Additionally, the brigades have an estimated 10,000–17,000 operatives,[270][301] other sources say 15,000–40,000 militants,[302][303][undue weight? –discuss] forming a backup force whenever circumstances call for reinforcements for the Brigade. Recruitment training lasts for two years.[300] The group's ideology outlines its aim as the liberation of Palestine and the restoration of Palestinian rights under the dispensations set forth in the Qur'an, and this translates into three policy priorities:
To evoke the spirit of Jihad (Resistance) among Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims; to defend Palestinians and their land against the Zionist occupation and its manifestations; to liberate Palestinians and their land that was usurped by the Zionist occupation forces and settlers.[304]
According to its official stipulations, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades' military operations are to be restricted to operating only inside Palestine, engaging with Israeli soldiers,[k] and in exercising the right of self-defense against armed settlers. They are to avoid civilian targets, to respect the enemy's humanity by refraining from mutilation, defacement or excessive killing, and to avoid targeting Westerners either in the occupied zones or beyond.[305]
Exercise of al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza City, January 27, 2013
Down to 2007, the Brigades are estimated to have lost some 800 operatives in conflicts with Israeli forces. The leadership has been consistently undermined by targeted assassinations. Aside fromYahya Ayyash (January 5, 1996), it has lostEmad Akel (November 24, 1993),Salah Shehade (July 23, 2002),Ibrahim al-Makadmeh (March 8, 2003),Ismail Abu Shanab (August 21, 2003),Ahmed Yassin (March 22, 2004), andAbdel Aziz al-Rantisi (April 17, 2004).[306][307]
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades groups its fighters in 4–5 man cells, which in turn are integrated into companies and battalions. Unlike the political section, which is split between an internal and external structure, the Brigades are under a local Palestinian leadership, and disobedience with the decisions taken by the political leadership have been relatively rare.[308]
Although the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades are an integral part of Hamas, the exact nature of the relationship is hotly debated.[239][309] They appear to operate at times independently of Hamas, exercising a certain autonomy.[310][311][312] Some cells have independent links with the external leadership, enabling them to bypass the hierarchical command chain and political leadership in Gaza.[313] Ilana Kass and Bard O'Neill, likening Hamas's relationship with the Brigades to the political partySinn Féin's relationship to the military arm of theIrish Republican Army, quote a senior Hamas official as stating: "The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade is a separate armed military wing, which has its own leaders who do not take their orders from Hamas and do not tell us of their plans in advance."[314][l]
Gaza forces, October 2023
During the 2023 Gaza war, the IDF published its intelligence about the Hamas military in the Strip.[317] They put the strength of the Qassam Brigades there at the start of the war at 30,000 fighters, organised by area in five brigades, consisting in total of 24 battalions and c. 140 companies.[317] Each regional brigade had a number of strongholds and outposts, and included specialised arrays for rocket firing, anti-tank missiles, air defenses, snipers, and engineering.[317]
The emblems of their political[320][321] and military wings are distinctly different.[322][323][324] The emblem of Hamas' political wing features Islamic and militaristic motifs. It shows two crossed swords in front of thecentral building of theAl-Aqsa mosque complex, in Jerusalem. The mosque is framed by two Palestinian flags that feature the two statements that comprise theShahada.[321][320] Above Al Aqsa is a map of Palestine, matching the borders ofMandatory Palestine. Immediately below the Dome it reads "Palestine" and below that in the green banner: "Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas".[325] The emblem of theirAl-Qassam Brigades militant wing does not include a map or a Palestinian flag, the militant wing emblem is a cartoon drawing of a man holding anM16 rifle and aQuran, with his face mostly covered by a black and whitePalestinian keffiyeh.[298][323][324] He is standing in front of a green flag and thegolden dome of theAl-Aqsa mosque, but the building is more stylised than it is in the political wing emblem.[322][323][324]
Violence
Hamas has used both political activities and violence in pursuit of its goals. For example, while politically engaged in the 2006 Palestinian Territories parliamentary election campaign, Hamas stated in its election manifesto that it was prepared to use "armed resistance to endthe occupation".[326] Hamas has repeatedly justified its violence by arguing "People under occupation have a right to resist that occupation".[327] Hamas also argues its armed resistance only started after decades of Israeli occupation.[327]
From 2000 to 2004, Hamas was responsible for killing nearly 400 Israelis and wounding more than 2,000 in 425 attacks, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks into Israel.[328]
Hamas have committed massacres targeting Israeli civilians. Hamas's most deadly suicide bombing was an attack on aNetanya hotel on March 27, 2002, in which 30 people were killed and 140 were wounded. The attack has also been referred to as thePassover massacre since it took place on the first night of the Jewish festival ofPassover at aSeder.
Hamas has defended suicide attacks as a legitimate aspect of itsasymmetric warfare against Israel. In 2003, according to Stephen Atkins, Hamas resumed suicide bombings in Israel as a retaliatory measure after the failure of peace talks and an Israeli campaign targeting members of the upper echelon of the Hamas leadership.[m] but they are considered ascrimes against humanity under international law.[330][331] In a 2002 report, Human Rights Watch stated that Hamas leaders "should be held accountable" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity" committed by the al-Qassam Brigades.[332][333][334]
In 2008, Hamas leaderKhaled Mashal, offered that Hamas would attack only military targets if the IDF would stop causing the deaths of Palestinian civilians.[335] Following a June 19, 2008, ceasefire, the al-Qassam Brigades ended its rocket attacks and arrested Fatah militants in Gaza who had continued sporadic rocket and mortar attacks against Israel. The al-Qassam Brigades resumed the attacks after the November 4 Israeli incursion into Gaza.[75][76]
During the2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Hamas infiltrated homes, shot civilians en masse, and took scores of Israeli civilians and soldiers as hostages into Gaza.[336][337] According toHuman Rights Watch, the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and taking of civilians as hostages amount towar crimes under international humanitarian law.[338] During its October 2023 offensive against Israel, Hamas massacred 364 people at theRe'im music festival, while abucting others.[339][340] During the same offensive, it also was reported that Hamas had massacred the population of theKfar Aza kibbutz.[341] About 10 percent of the residents of theBe'eri kibbutz were killed.[342] Hamas militants attacked thePsyduck festival, that took place near kibutz Nir Oz, killing 17Israeli partygoers.[343] Video footage shows children being deliberately killed during the kibbutz attacks,[344] as well as what appears to be an attempt to decapitate a living person using a garden hoe.[345] Forensic teams who examined bodies of victims said many bodies showed signs of torture as well assexual and gender-based violence, and testimonies to this effect were also collected by Israeli police.[346][347][348][349] Haaretz later reported that forensic pathologists who examined bodies of the victims taken the Shura Base for identification found "no signs on any of those bodies attesting to sexual relations having taken place or of mutilation of genitalia." Not all bodies could be fully examined given the lack of forensic pathologists, and for some conclusions could not be drawn given their deteriorated state.[350] Israeli forensic pathologists in charge of the process clarified later that all bodies had been examined, and some were disfigured or burned.[351] Some of the testimonies were later proven to be false.[352][353][354] Detailed reports by the UN andThe Times concluded that Israel's claims about the scale and formally sanctioned, systematic nature of sexual assaults did not stand up to scrutiny.[355][356][357]
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have launched thousands of rockets into Israel since 2001, killing 15 civilians, wounding many more, and posing an ongoing threat to the nearly 800,000 Israeli civilians who live and work in the weapons' range. Hamas officials have said that the rockets were aimed only at military targets, saying that civilian casualties were the "accidental result" of the weapons' poor quality. According toHuman Rights Watch, statements by Hamas leaders suggest that the purpose of the rocket attacks was indeed to strike civilians and civilian objects. From January 2009, followingOperation Cast Lead, Hamas largely stopped launching rocket attacks on Israel and has on at least two occasions arrested members of other groups who have launched rockets, "showing that it has the ability to impose the law when it wants".[358] In February 2010, Hamas issued a statement regretting any harm that may have befallen Israeli civilians as a result of Palestinian rocket attacks during the Gaza war. It maintained that its rocket attacks had been aimed at Israeli military targets but lacked accuracy and hence sometimes hit civilian areas. Israel responded that Hamas had boasted repeatedly of targeting and murdering civilians in the media.[359]
According to one report, commenting on the 2014 conflict, "nearly all the 2,500–3,000 rockets and mortars Hamas has fired at Israel since the start of the war seem to have been aimed at towns", including an attack on "a kibbutz collective farm close to the Gaza border", in which an Israeli child was killed.[360] Former Israeli Lt. Col. Jonathan D. Halevi stated that "Hamas has expressed pride in aiming long-range rockets at strategic targets in Israel including the nuclear reactor in Dimona, the chemical plants in Haifa, and Ben-Gurion Airport", which "could have caused thousands" of Israeli casualties "if successful".[361]
In July 2008,Barack Obama, then the Democratic presidential candidate, said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."[362] On December 28, 2008, Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice said in a statement: "the United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel."[363] On March 2, 2009, Secretary of StateHillary Clinton condemned the attacks.[364]
On October 7, 2023, Hamas claimed responsibility for a barrage of missile attacks originating from the Gaza Strip.[365]
Guerrilla warfare
Hamas anti-tank rockets, captured by Israel Defense Forces during Operation Protective Edge
Hamas has made great use ofguerrilla tactics in the Gaza Strip and to a lesser degree the West Bank.[366] It has successfully adapted these techniques over the years since its inception. According to a 2006 report by rival Fatah party, Hamas had smuggled between several hundred and 1,300 tons of advanced rockets, along with other weaponry, into Gaza.[366]
Hamas has usedIEDs andanti-tank rockets against theIDF in Gaza. The latter include standardRPG-7 warheads and home-made rockets such as theAl-Bana, Al-Batar and Al-Yasin. The IDF has a difficult, if not impossible, time trying to find hidden weapons caches in Palestinian areas—this is due to the high local support base Hamas enjoys.[367]
In addition to killing Israeli civilians and armed forces, Hamas has also murdered suspected Palestinian Israel collaborators and Fatah rivals.[368][369] According to theAssociated Press, collaborating with Israel is a crime punishable by death in Gaza.[370] Hundreds of Palestinians were executed by both Hamas and Fatah during the First Intifada.[371] In the wake of the 2006 Israeli conflict with Gaza, Hamas was accused of systematically rounding up, torturing and summarily executing Fatah supporters suspected of supplying information to Israel. Human Rights Watch estimates several hundred Gazans were "maimed" and tortured in the aftermath of the conflict. Seventy-three Gazan men accused of "collaborating" had their arms and legs broken by "unidentified perpetrators", and 18 Palestinians accused of helping Israel were executed by Hamas security officials in the first days of the conflict.[372][373][374] In November 2012, Hamas's Izzedine al-Qassam brigade publicly executed six Gaza residents accused of collaborating with Israel. According to the witnesses, six alleged informers were shot dead one by one inGaza City, while the corpse of the sixth victim was tied by a cable to the back of a motorcycle and dragged through the streets.[375] In 2013, Human Rights Watch issued a statement condemning Hamas for not investigating and giving a proper trial to the six men. Their statement was released the day before Hamas issued a deadline for "collaborators" to turn themselves in, or they will be pursued "without mercy".[376] During the2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, Hamas executed at least 23 accused collaborators after three of its commanders were assassinated by Israeli forces, withAmnesty International also reporting instances of torture used by Hamas forces.[377][378] An Israeli source denied that any of the commanders had been targeted on the basis of human intelligence.[379]
Frequent[ambiguous] killings of unarmed people have also occurred during Hamas-Fatah clashes.[380][381] NGOs have cited a number ofsummary executions as particular examples of violations of the rules of warfare, including the case of Muhammad Swairki, 28, a cook for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's presidential guard, who was thrown to his death, with his hands and legs tied, from a 15-story apartment building in Gaza City.[382] Hamas security forces reportedly shoot and torture Palestinians who opposed Hamas rule in Gaza.[383] In one case, a Palestinian had criticized Hamas in a conversation on the street with some friends. Later that day, more than a dozen armed men with black masks and redkaffiyeh took the man from his home, and brought him to a solitary area where they shot him three times in the lower legs and ankles. The man toldHuman Rights Watch that he was not politically active.[372]
According toPalestinian presidentMahmoud Abbas, during2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Hamas killed more than 120 Palestinian youths for defying house arrest imposed on them by Hamas, in addition to 30–40 Palestinians killed by Hamas in extrajudicial executions after accusing them of being collaborators with Israel.[386] Referring to the killing of suspected collaborators, a Shin Bet official stated that "not even one" of those executed by Hamas provided any intelligence to Israel, while the Shin Bet officially "confirmed that those executed during Operation Protective Edge had all been held in prison in Gaza in the course of the hostilities".[379]
Terrorist designation
Designated Hamas as a terrorist organization
Designated the military wing of Hamas as a terrorist organization
The United States designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation in 1995, as did Canada in November 2002,[387] and the United Kingdom in November 2021.[388] In May 2021, theOrganization of American States designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation.[389] TheEuropean Union so designated Hamas's military wing in 2001 and, under US pressure,[390] designated Hamas in 2003.[391] Hamas challenged this decision,[392] which was upheld by theEuropean Court of Justice in July 2017.[393] Japan[394] and New Zealand[395] have designated the military wing of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.[396] The organisation is banned in Jordan.[397] In late February 2024, New Zealand re-designated the entire Hamas organisation as a terror entity.[398] In September 2024, Switzerland approved a draft law on to ban the group.[399]
Hamas is not regarded as a terrorist organisation by Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran,[400] Russia,[401] Norway,[n] Turkey, China,[403] Egypt, Syria, and Brazil.[404][405][406] "Many other states, including Russia, China, Syria, Turkey and Iran consider the (armed) struggle waged by Hamas to be legitimate."[407]
Tobias Buck, a journalist with the BritishFinancial Times newspaper wrote in 2012 that Hamas is "listed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU, but few dare to treat it that way" and in the Arab and Muslim world it had lost its pariah status with its emissaries welcomed in capitals of Islamic countries.[408] In the early 2010s, Hamas was considered a terrorist group by some governments and academics, others regarded Hamas as a complex organisation, withterrorism as only one component.[409][410]
After the start of the 2023 war, theEuropean Parliament passed a motion stating the need for Hamas to be eliminated, with US President Biden having expressed the same sentiment.[415][416] Hamas was accused of having committed genocide against Israelis on 7 October 2023 by 240 legal experts, including jurists and academics.[417]
Benjamin Netanyahu had been Israel's prime minister for most of the two decades preceding theGaza war, and was criticized for having championed a policy of empowering Hamas in Gaza.[418][419][420][421] This policy was part of a strategy to sabotage atwo-state solution by confining the Palestinian Authority to the West Bank and weakening it, and to demonstrate to the Israeli public and western governments that Israel has no partner for peace.[422][423] This criticism was leveled by several Israeli officials, including former prime ministerEhud Barak, and former head ofShin Bet security servicesYuval Diskin.[422] Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority were also critical of Israel under Netanyahu allowing suitcases of Qatari money to be given to Hamas,[422] in exchange for maintaining the ceasefire.[418] TheTimes of Israel reported after the Hamas attack that Netanyahu's policy to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset had "blown up in our faces".[418]
Public support
A poll conducted in 2021 found that 53% of Palestinians believed Hamas was "most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people". Only 14% preferred Abbas's Fatah party.[424] At the same time, a majority of Gazans also saw Hamas as corrupt, but were frightened to criticize the group.[425] Polls conducted in September 2023 found that support for Hamas among Palestinians stood at around 27–31%.[426]
Public opinions of Hamas deteriorated after it took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Prior to the takeover, 62% of Palestinians had held a favorable view of the group, while a third had negative views. According to a 2014 Pew Research survey just prior to the2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, only about a third had positive opinions, and more than half viewed Hamas negatively. Furthermore, 68% of Israeli Arabs viewed Hamas negatively.[427] In July 2014, 65% of Lebanese viewed Hamas negatively. In Jordan and Egypt, roughly 60% viewed Hamas negatively, and in Turkey, 80% had a negative view of Hamas. In Tunisia, 42% had a negative view of Hamas, while 56% of Bangladeshis and 44% of Indonesians had a negative opinion of Hamas.[427]
Hamas popularity surged after thewar in July–August 2014 with polls reporting that 81 percent of Palestinians felt that Hamas had "won" that war.[428][429]
Following theHamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023 and theGaza war that followed, Hamas's popularity in Gaza fell while increasing in the West Bank. A May 2024 poll by theArab World for Research and Development, a West Bank-based independent organization, only a quarter of Gazans supported Hamas, while 76% of Palestinians in the West Bank views Hamas positively. Views on the attack among Gazans plummeted from 50% support to 24% in favor from a poll taken in November 2023 to the May 2024 poll.[430] According to the poll conducted byThe Washington Institute for Near East Policy from November 14 to December 6, 2023, 40% ofSaudi participants expressed a positive view of Hamas.[431]
After winning the Palestinian elections, Hamas leaders made multi-national diplomatic tours abroad. In April 2006,Mahmoud al-Zahar (then foreign minister) visited Saudi Arabia, Syria, Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Libya, Algeria, Sudan and Egypt.[432] He met the Saudi foreign ministerPrince Faysal. In Syria he held talks on the issue of Palestinians stuck on the Syrian-Iraqi border.[clarification needed] He also stated that he unofficially met officials from Western Europe in Qatar who did not wish to be named.[432] In May 2006, Hamas foreign minister visited Indonesia, Malaysia, the Sultanate of Brunei, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka and Iran.[432] The minister also participated inChina–Arab States Cooperation Forum.[433]Ismail Haniyeh in 2006 visited Egypt, Syria, Kuwait, Iran, Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.[434]
Hamas has always maintained leadership abroad. The movement is deliberately fragmented to ensure that Israel cannot kill its top political and military leaders.[435] Hamas used to be strongly allied with both Iran and Syria. Iran gave Hamas an estimated $13–15 million in 2011 as well as access to long-range missiles. Hamas's political bureau was once located in the Syrian capital of Damascus before the start of the Syrian civil war. Relations between Hamas, Iran, and Syria began to turn cold when Hamas refused to back the government of Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad. Instead, Hamas backed the Sunni rebels fighting against Assad. As a result, Iran cut funding to Hamas, and Iranian ally Hezbollah ordered Hamas members out of Lebanon.[436] Hamas was then forced out of Syria, and subsequently has tried to mend fences with Iran and Hezbollah.[436] Hamas contacted Jordan and Sudan to see if either would open up its borders to its political bureau, but both countries refused, although they welcomed many Hamas members leaving Syria.[437]
From 2012 to 2013, under the short-lived leadership ofMuslim Brotherhood PresidentMohamed Morsi, Hamas had the support of Egypt. After Morsi was removed from office, his successorAbdul Fattah al-Sisi outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood and destroyed the tunnels Hamas built into Egypt. In 2015, Egypt declared Hamas a terrorist organization. But this decision was overturned by Egypt in June of the same year.[438] There was a rapprochement between Hamas and Egypt, when a Hamas delegation visited Cairo on 12 March 2016.[439] Hamas has assisted Egypt in controlling theinsurgency in Sinai.[439] Hamas denied Egypt's request to deploy its own militants in the Sinai leading to tensions between the two.[439]
Egypt has occasionally served as mediator between Hamas and Fatah, seeking to unify the two factions. In 2017, Yahya Sinwar visited Cairo for 5 weeks and convinced the Egyptian government to open theRafah crossing, letting in cement and fuel in exchange for Hamas committing to better relations withFatah; this subsequently led to the signing of the2017 Fatah–Hamas Agreement.[440]
The United Arab Emirates has been hostile to Hamas designating the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and Hamas was at the time viewed as the Brotherhood's Palestinian equivalent.[436]
Hamas enjoyed close relations with Saudi Arabia in its early years.[441] Saudi Arabia funded most of its operations from 2000 to 2004, but reduced its support due to US pressure.[54] In 2020, many Hamas members in Saudi Arabia were arrested. In 2022, Saudi Arabia began releasing Hamas members from prison. In April 2023,Ismail Haniyeh visitedRiyadh, a sign of improving relations.[441] Haniyeh had long sought to visit Saudi Arabia, and his requests to do so had been long ignored up until then.[442]
Despite its Sunni Islamist ideology, Hamas has been flexible and pragmatic in its foreign policy, moderating and toning down its religious rhetoric when expedient;[443] it has developed strong ties with Iran,[444] and has also established relations with constitutionally secular states such as Syria and Russia.[444][443]Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine'sMain Directorate of Intelligence, has accused Russia of supporting Hamas by supplying the group with stolen Ukrainian weaponry,[445] and theNational Resistance Center of Ukraine alleged that the RussianWagner Group trained Hamas militants ahead of the October 7 attacks.[446]
According to AP someNorth Korean arms were "likely" used during the Oct. 7 assault on Israel.[447] Ali Barakeh, a Hamas official living in Lebanon, claimed the two are allies.[448][449]
Hamas leaders reportedly re-established relations withKuwait,Libya andOman, all of which reportedly have not had warm relations with Fatah.[450] The cool relationship between Fatah and Kuwait owed to Arafat's support forSaddam during theFirst Gulf War, which lead to thePalestinian exodus from Kuwait (1990–91).[450] This rapproachment is in part due to Hamas's policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries.[450]Mahmoud al-Zahar stated that Hamas does not "play the game" of siding with one Arab nation against another (e.g. in theGulf War).[451] WhenYusuf al-Qaradawi, and other Sunniulema, called for an uprising against Assad's regime in Syria, Mahmoud al-Zahar maintained that taking sides would harm thePalestinian cause.[452][clarification needed]
After thefall of the Assad regime in Syria, Hamas congratulated the Syrian people for achieving their "aspirations for freedom and justice," and expressed hope that thenew Syrian government would continue "its historical and pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian people."[453] In February 2025, Hamas condemnedIsraeli attacks on Syria.[454]
According to Middle East experts, now Hamas has two firm allies:Qatar andTurkey. Both give Hamas public and financial assistance estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.[436] Qatar has transferred more than $1.8 billion to Hamas.[455] Shashank Joshi, senior research fellow at theRoyal United Services Institute, says that "Qatar also hosts Hamas's political bureau which includes Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal." Meshaal also visits Turkey frequently to meet with Turkish Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan.[436] Erdogan has dedicated himself to breaking Hamas out of its political and economic seclusion. OnUS television, Erdogan said in 2012 that "I don't see Hamas as a terror organization. Hamas is apolitical party."[435]
Qatar has been called Hamas' most important financial backer and foreign ally.[455][456] In 2007, Qatar was, with Turkey, the only country to back Hamas after the group ousted the Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip.[436] The relationship between Hamas and Qatar strengthened in 2008 and 2009 when Khaled Meshaal was invited to attend the Doha Summit where he was seated next to the then Qatari EmirHamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who pledged $250 million to repair the damage caused by Israel in the Israeli war on Gaza.[437] These events caused Qatar to become the main player in the "Palestinian issue". Qatar called Gaza's blockade unjust and immoral, which prompted the Hamas government in Gaza, including former Prime MinisterIsmail Haniyeh, to thank Qatar for their "unconditional" support. Qatar then began regularly handing out political, material, humanitarian and charitable support for Hamas.[437]
Haniyeh with Turkish Minister of CultureNuman Kurtulmuş, 20 November 2012
In 2011, U.S. PresidentBarack Obama personally requested that Qatar, one of the U.S.'s most important Arab allies, provide a base for the Hamas leadership. At the time, the U.S. were seeking to establish communications with Hamas and believed that a Hamas office in Qatar would be easier to access than a Hamas bureau in Iran, the group's main backer.[457][458]
In 2012, Qatar's former Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, became the first head of state to visit Gaza under Hamas rule. He pledged to raise $400 million for reconstruction.[459] Sources say that advocating for Hamas is politically beneficial to Turkey and Qatar because the Palestinian cause draws popular support amongst their citizens at home.[460]
Speaking in reference to Qatar's support for Hamas, during a 2015 visit to Palestine, Qatari official Mohammad al-Emadi, said Qatar is using the money not to help Hamas but rather the Palestinian people as a whole. He acknowledges that giving to the Palestinian people means using Hamas as the local contact. Emadi said, "You have to support them. You don't like them, don't like them. But they control the country, you know."[461] Some argue that Hamas's relations with Qatar are putting Hamas in an awkward position because Qatar has become part of the regional Arab problem. Hamas says that having contacts with various Arab countries establishes positive relations which will encourage Arab countries to do their duty toward the Palestinians and support their cause by influencing public opinion in the Arab world.[437] In March 2015, Hamas has announced its support of theSaudi Arabian-ledmilitary intervention in Yemen against theShiaHouthis and forces loyal to former PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh.[462] In a controversial deal, Israel's government underBenjamin Netanyahu supported Qatar's payments to Hamas for many years, in the hope that it would turn Hamas into an effective counterweight to thePalestinian Authority and prevent the establishment of aPalestinian state.[463][458]
In February 2020, Hamas leaderIsmail Haniyeh met with Turkish President Erdoğan.[466] On 26 July 2023, Haniyeh met with Erdoğan and Palestinian Authority PresidentMahmoud Abbas. Behind the meeting was Turkey's effort to reconcileFatah with Hamas.[467] On 7 October 2023, the day of theHamas attack on Israel, Haniyeh was inIstanbul, Turkey.[468] On 21 October 2023, Haniyeh spoke with Erdoğan about the latest developments in theGaza war and the current situation in Gaza.[469] On 25 October 2023, Erdoğan said that Hamas was not a terrorist organisation but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people.[219]
In early 2025, the US'Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs,Adam Boehler, talked directly with Hamas in an attempt to secure the release of American hostages. Secretary of StateMarco Rubio told reporters that the talks were a "one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so. He did so."[470]
^The post will remain vacant until March 2025.Khalil al-Hayya, who served withYahya Sinwar as the previous deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, was promoted to become a member of thequinquevirate leadership that will lead Hamas until the next election that will take place in March 2025.[citation needed]
^ His name has been spelled: Hussam al-Tawil,[189] Hossam Al-Tawil, or Hosam al-Taweel.[190]
^'The Charter was written in early 1988 by one individual and was made public without appropriate general Hamas consultation, revision or consensus, to the regret of Hamas's leaders in later years. The author of the Charter was one of the 'old guard' of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, completely cut off from the outside world. All kinds of confusions and conflations between Judaism and Zionism found their way into the Charter, to the disservice of Hamas ever since, as this document has managed to brand it with charges of 'anti-Semitism' and a naïve world-view' Hamas leaders and spokespeople have rarely referred to the Charter or quoted from it, evidence that it has come to be seen as a burden rather than an intellectual platform that embraces the movement's principles.'[221]
^'The second major component in Palestine's sanctity, according to Hamas, is its designation as awaqf by the Caliph'Umar b. al-Khattab. When the Muslim armies conquered Palestine in the year 638, the Hamas Charter says, the Caliph 'Umar b. al-Khattab decided not to divide the conquered land among the victorious soldiers, but to establish it as awaqf, belonging to the entire Muslim nation until the day of resurrection.'[225]
^'In a 1995 lecture, Sheikh Jamil Hamami, a party to the foundation of Hamas and a senior member of its West Bank leadership, expounded the importance of Hamas'dawa infrastructure as the soil from which militancy would flower.'[273]
^'Consistent attacks on army units by Hamas activists are as new as the use of anti-tank missiles against civilian homes by the Israeli military.'[243]
^Matthew Levitt on the other hand claims that Hamas's welfare institutions act as a mere façade or front for the financing of terrorism, and dismisses the idea of two wings as a 'myth'.[315] He cites Ahmed Yassin stating in 1998: "We can not separate the wing from the body. If we do so, the body will not be able to fly. Hamas is one body."[316]
^'This ceasefire ended when Israel started targeting Hamas leaders for assassination in July 2003. Hamas retaliated with a suicide bombing in Israel on August 19, 2003, that killed 20 people, including 6 children. Since then Israelis have mounted an assassination campaign against the senior leadership of Hamas that has killed 13 Hamas members, including Ismail Abu Shanab, one of the most moderate leaders of Hamas. ... After each of these assassinations, Hamas has sent a suicide bomber into Israel in retaliation.'[329]
^"In 2006, Norway explicitly distanced itself from the EU proscription regime, claiming that it was causing problems for its role as a 'neutral facilitator.'"[402]
^Gelvin 2014, p. 226: "As with Islamic political organizations elsewhere, Hamas offers its followers an ideology that appropriates the universal message of Islam for what is, in effect, a nationalist struggle."
^Cheema 2008, p. 465: "Hamas considersPalestine the main front ofjihad and viewed the uprising as an Islamic way of fighting the Occupation. 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. [...] Hamas claims to speak as a nationalist movement but with an Islamic-nationalist rather than a secular nationalist agenda."
^Litvak 2004, pp. 156–57: "Hamas is primarily a religious movement whose nationalist worldview is shaped by its religious ideology."
^Lopez, Anthony; Ireland, Carol; Ireland, Jane; Lewis, Michael (2020).The Handbook of Collective Violence: Current Developments and Understanding.Taylor & Francis. p. 239.ISBN9780429588952.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.
^Higgins, Andrew (24 January 2009)."How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas".The Wall Street Journal.Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved25 January 2023.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. Olmert said last Saturday. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran.
^abSeurat 2019, pp. 17–19: "Indeed, since 2006, Hamas has unceasingly highlighted its acceptance of the 1967 borders, as well as accords signed by the PLO and Israel. This position has been an integral part of reconciliation agreements between Hamas and Fatah since 2005: the Cairo Agreement in 2005, the Prisoners' Document in 2006, the Mecca Agreement in 2007 and finally the Cairo and Doha Agreements in 2011 and 2012."
^ab*Baconi 2018, pp. 114–116: "["Prisoners' Document"] enshrined many issues that had already been settled, including statehood on the 1967 borders; UN Resolution 194 for the right of return; and the right to resist within the occupied territories...This agreement was in essence a key text that offered a platform for unity between Hamas and Fatah within internationally defined principles animating the Palestinian struggle." *Roy 2013, p. 210: "Khaled Meshal, as chief of Hamas's Political Bureau in Damascus, as well as Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh similarly confirmed the organization's willingness to accept the June 4, 1967, borders and a two-state solution should Israel withdraw from the occupied territories, a reality reaffirmed in the 2006 Palestinian Prisoners' Document, in which most major Palestinian factions had reached a consensus on a two-state solution, that is, a Palestinian state within 1967 borders including East Jerusalem and the refugee right of return."
^abcBaconi 2018, pp. 82: "The Cairo Declaration formalized what Hamas's military disposition throughout the Second Intifada had alluded to: that the movement's immediate political goals were informed by the desire to create a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders."
^ab*Halim Rane (2009).Reconstructing Jihad Amid Competing International Norms. p. 34.Asher Susser, director of the Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University, conveyed to me in an interview that "Hamas' 'hudna' is not significantly different from Sharon's 'long-term interim agreement." Similarly, Daniel Levy, a senior Israeli official for the Geneva Initiative (GI), informed me that certain Hamas officials find the GI acceptable, but due to the concerns about their Islamically oriented constituency and their own Islamic identity, they would "have to express the final result in terms of a "hudna," or "indefinite" ceasefire," rather than a formal peace agreement."
Loren D. Lybarger (2020).Palestinian Chicago.University of California Press. p. 199.Hamas too would signal a willingness to accept a long-term "hudna" (cessation of hostilities, truce) along the armistice lines of 1948 (an effective acceptance of the two-state formula).
Tristan Dunning (2016).Hamas, Jihad and Popular Legitimacy.Routledge. pp. 179–180.
^abcdBaconi 2018, p. 108: "Hamas's finance minister in Gaza stated that 'a long-term ceasefire as understood by Hamas and a two-state settlement are the same. It's just a question of vocabulary.'"
^abcdTimea Spitka (2023).National and International Civilian Protection Strategies in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.Springer International Publishing. pp. 88–89.
^abcdHroub, Khaled (2017)."A Newer Hamas? The Revised Charter".Journal of Palestine Studies.46 (4 (184)):100–111.doi:10.1525/jps.2017.46.4.100.ISSN0377-919X.JSTOR26378710.In a similar vein, Hamas's description of itself appears in a section titled "The Movement" that is couched in language quite different from the 1988 charter. Here, Hamas stresses the nationalist and resistance aspects of its purpose far more than the religious and pan-Islamic ones...Framing the struggle in nationalist terms is not only a novel element of the 2017 document but it is repeatedly emphasized and clearly articulated...Hamas makes plain that the "conflict is with the Zionist project, not with the Jews because of their religion...The new document offers a definitive framing of the struggle against Zionism and Israel as having nothing to do with religion...In "The Position toward Occupation and Political Solutions," the document articulates a stance that reflects the movement's internal consensus on the two-state solution, that is, the creation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines...The "Resistance and Liberation" portion of the new document is also quite different in its language from the 1988 charter and other past statements. Here, there is a clear assertion of the right to a national liberation struggle on the basis of international law."
^abSpoerl, Joseph S. (2020)."Parallels between Nazi and Islamist Anti-Semitism".Jewish Political Studies Review.31 (1/2). Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs:210–244.ISSN0792-335X.JSTOR26870795.Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved27 January 2024.Strictly speaking, the Hamas Covenant of 1988 focused its anti-Semitic language on Zionists, for example, describing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as the blueprint for the Zionist project (Article 32) and accusing the Zionists of aiming to "annihilate Islam" (Article 28). The May 2017 "Document" continues in this vein, albeit in somewhat less florid language, asserting that "the Zionist project does not target the Palestinian people alone; it is the enemy of the Arabic and Islamic Ummah posing a grave threat to its security and interests. It is also hostile to the Ummah's aspirations for unity, renaissance, and liberation and has been the major source of its troubles. The Zionist project also poses a danger to international security and peace and to mankind…." (#15). As in the 1988 Covenant, the 2017 "Document" merely takes all the classical tropes of anti-Semitism and focuses them on Zionism, noting that "it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity" (#16). In effect, Hamas is saying that it is at war with all Jews except those who are anti-Zionist, thus it is not anti-Semitic. This can hardly be regarded as a serious repudiation of anti-Semitism.
^"Movement and Access Restrictions in the West Bank: Uncertainty and Inefficiency in the Palestinian Economy"(PDF).World Bank. 9 May 2007. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 10 April 2010. Retrieved29 March 2010.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
^Dupret, Baudouin; Lynch, Michael; Berard, Tim (2015).Law at Work: Studies in Legal Ethnomethods.Oxford University Press. p. 279.ISBN9780190210243.[It has been alleged that] Hamas cynically abuses its own civilian population and their suffering for propaganda purposes.
^"National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners (28 June 2006) - Non-UN document".Question of Palestine. Archived fromthe original on 15 November 2024. Retrieved15 December 2024.The Palestinian people in the homeland and in the Diaspora seek and struggle to liberate their land and remove the settlements and evacuate the settlers and remove the apartheid and annexation and separation wall and to achieve their right to freedom, return and independence and to exercise their right to self-determination, including the right to establish their independent state with al-Quds al-Shareef as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967, and to secure the right of return for refugees to their homes and properties from which they were evicted and to compensate them and to liberate all prisoners and detainees without any discrimination and all of this is based on the historical right of our people on the land of our forefathers and based on the UN Charter and international law and legitimacy in a way that does not affect the rights of our people.
^abcdeJacqueline S. Ismael; Tareq Y. Ismael; Glenn Perry (2011).Government and Politics of the Contemporary Middle East Continuity and Change.Routledge. p. 67.ISBN9780415491440.
^Baconi 2018, p. 108" Hamas's finance minister in Gaza stated that "a long-term ceasefire as understood by Hamas and a two-state settlement are the same. It's just a question of vocabulary.""
^abKear, Martin (2019).Hamas and Palestine: The Contested Road to Statehood(Hardcover). Routledge. p. 217.ISBN9781138585416.Without expressly stating as much, Hamas had agreed to 'respect' UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338, the once reviled Oslo Accords, and by extension, the problematic issue of Israel's existence. While Hamas had previously proposed hudnas with Israel, this was the first time that they had signed any Agreement that tacitly accepted that any future Palestinian state would only consist of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. After the Agreement, Meshaal reiterated Hamas's position concerning its understanding of what any prospective peace agreement with Israel would look like: that any Palestinian state should be established along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, acknowledgement of the right of return for all Palestinian refugees, the dismantling of all West Bank settlements, and the complete withdrawal of all vestiges of Israeli rule (Tamimi 2009 : 261; Caridi 2012 : 248). This truncated version of any future Palestinian state was a key ideological concession from Hamas that finally brought it in line with Fatah, and more importantly, with the views of most of the Palestinian public.
^Burke, Paul; Elnakhala, Doaa'; Miller, Seumas (2021).Global Jihadist Terrorism: Terrorist Groups, Zones of Armed Conflict and National Counter-Terrorism Strategies. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 60–61.ISBN1800371306.In response to accusations of contradicting Hamas's original charter, its leaders emphasised that this move is an intermediary one, until the liberation of the remainder of Palestine becomes more feasible
^Bar-On, Tamir; Bale, Jeffrey M. (2024).Fighting the Last War: Confusion, Partisanship, and Alarmism in the Literature on the Radical Right. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 145.ISBN1793639388.there is no doubt that ... Hamas is focused on ... destroying the 'Zionist entity'
^Hroub, Khaled (2010). "Hamas, Israel and Judaism".Hamas: A Beginner's Guide (2nd ed.).St. Martin's Press. p. 55.ISBN9781783714667.Would Hamas ever recognize Israel and conclude peace agreements with it? It is not inconceivable that Hamas would recognize Israel. Hamas's pragmatism and its realistic approach to issues leave ample room for such a development. Yet most of the conditions that could create a conducive climate for such a step lie in the hands of the Israelis. As long as Israel refuses to acknowledge the basic rights of the Palestinian people in any end result based on the principle of a two-state solution, Hamas will find it impossible to recognize Israel.
^Bayefsky, Anne F.; Blank, Laurie R. (22 March 2018).Incitement to Terrorism. BRILL. p. 91.ISBN978-90-04-35982-6.Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved20 March 2024.[note12] The governing charter of Hamas, "The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement," openly dedicates Hamas to genocide against the Jewish people (…) [see] The Covenant (…) 1988. Articles 7, …
^Tsesis, Alexander (2014–2015)."Antisemitism and Hate Speech Studies".Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion.16: 352.Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved20 March 2024.For Jews, the Holocaust remains a real concern in an age when Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization, continues to advocate genocide in its core Charter.
^Gourevitch, Philip (2 August 2014)."An Honest Voice in Israel".The New Yorker.Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved9 May 2020.
Halim Rane (2009).Reconstructing Jihad Amid Competing International Norms. p. 34.Asher Susser, director of the Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University, conveyed to me in an interview that "Hamas' 'hudna' is not significantly different from Sharon's 'long-term interim agreement." Similarly, Daniel Levy, a senior Israeli official for the Geneva Initiative (GI), informed me that certain Hamas officials find the GI acceptable, but due to the concerns about their Islamically oriented constituency and their own Islamic identity, they would "have to express the final result in terms of a "hudna," or "indefinite" ceasefire," rather than a formal peace agreement."
Tristan Dunning (2016).Hamas, Jihad and Popular Legitimacy.Routledge. pp. 179–180.
Loren D. Lybarger (2020).Palestinian Chicago.University of California Press. p. 199.Hamas too would signal a willingness to accept a long-term "hudna" (cessation of hostilities, truce) along the armistice lines of 1948 (an effective acceptance of the two-state formula).
^Peter Beinart,The Crisis of Zionism,Archived 20 March 2024 at theWayback Machine Melbourne University Press 2012, p. 219. Statement of Mashal in May 2010: 'If Israel withdraws to the borders of 1967, it doesn't mean that it gives us back all the land of the Palestinians. But we do consider this as an acceptable solution to have a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967... the Palestinian state will have a referendum and the Palestinian people will decide. We in Hamas will respect the decision of the Palestinian majority.' Haniyeh in November 2010: 'We accept a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the resolution ofthe issue of refugees.... Hamas will respect the results (of a referendum) regardless of whether it differs with its ideology and principles.' (Beinart refers to the original sources of those statements, respectivelyCurrent Affairs 28 May 2010 andHaaretz 1 December 2010.)
^Leifer, Joshua (21 March 2024)."What is the real Hamas?".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077. Retrieved27 April 2024.He [Hamad] said that "Al-Aqsa Flood", Hamas's name for its armed offensive, "is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth". Once considered a thoughtful observer of Palestinian politics, Hamad now declared that "nobody should blame us for what we do – on 7 October, on 10 October, on October 1,000,000. Everything we do is justified."
^O'Malley 2015, p. 26: Israel incessantly invokes provisions of Hamas's charter that call for the elimination of Jews and the destruction of Israel, and its refusal to recognize the state of Israel. ... Hamas also calls attention to the clauses in the Likud charter that explicitly denounce a two-state solution. A double standard, says Hamas.
^"Battling over the public sphere: Islamic reactions to the music of today". Jonas Otterbeck.Contemporary Islam. Volume 2, Number 3, 211–28,doi:10.1007/s11562-008-0062-y. "... the over-all argument was that the event was haram"
^"Palestinians Debate Whether Future State Will be Theocracy or Democracy".Associated Press, July 13, 2005.
^See also:Letter from GazaArchived 27 June 2010 at theWayback Machine, Hamas's tunnel diplomacy, By Thanassis Cambanis, June 18, 2010. Foreign Affairs. "They want to know if we are more like the Taliban or Erdogan. They will see that we are closer to Erdogan."
Hroub 2006b, p. 6cited Michael Schulz, "Hamas Between Sharia Rule and Demo-Islam", in Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer, Joakim Öjendal (eds.),Globalization and Challenges to Building PeaceArchived 20 March 2024 at theWayback Machine, pp. 195–201: 'Hamas continues to be characterized with reference to its 1988 charter drawn up less than a year after the movement was established in direct response to the outbreak of the third intifada and when its raison d'être was armed resistance to the occupation. Yet when its election and post-election documents are compared to the charter, it becomes clear that what is being promoted is a profondly different organization'
'The non-Zionist Jew is one who belongs to the Jewish culture, whether as a believer in the Jewish faith or simply by accident of birth, but...(who) takes no part in aggressive actions against our land and our nation. ... Hamas will not adopt a hostile position in practice against anyone because of his ideas or his creed but will adopt such a position if those ideas and creed are translated into hostile or damaging actions against our people.' (1990)Khaled Hroub,p. 34Archived 20 March 2024 at theWayback Machine.
^Robertsp. 68Archived 20 March 2024 at theWayback Machine:'The Charter condemns world Zionism and the efforts to isolate Palestine, defines the mission of the organization, and locates that mission within Palestinian, Arab and Islamic elements. It does not condemn the West or non-Muslims, but does condemn aggression against the Palestinian people, arguing for a defensive jihad. It also calls for fraternal relations with the other Palestinian nationalist groups'.
^Jean-François Legrain:Hamas according to Hamas: A reading of its Document of General Principles. In: Shahram Akbarzadeh (Hrsg.):Routledge Handbook of Political Islam, Routledge, London 2020, pp. 79–90.
^(IISS), International Institute for Strategic Studies (14 February 2018).The Military Balance, 2018, Vol. 118, No. 1, February 2018. Routledge.ISBN9781857439557.
^abSen, Somdeep (2020).Decolonizing Palestine: Hamas between the anticolonial and the postcolonial. Ithaca [New York]:Cornell University Press. pp. 60–62.ISBN9781501752735.
^Yosif Mahmoud Haj-Yahis; et al. (2009).Alleged Palestinian Collaborators with Israel and Their Families: A Study of Victims of Internal Political Violence. Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. pp. 18–19.
^"EU court keeps Hamas on terrorism list, removes Tamil Tigers".Reuters. 26 July 2017.The lower court had found that the listing was based on media and internet reports rather than decisions by a "competent authority". But the ECJ said such decisions were not required for groups to stay on the list, only for their initial listing.
^Krista E. Wiegand,Bombs and Ballots: Governance by Islamist Terrorist and Guerrilla Groups,Ashgate Publishing, Revised edition 2013 p. 124. "Officially, Hamas is considered by American and Israeli policymakers and some academics as the epitome of a terrorist group. [...] Due to the gravity and consequences of Hamas's use of terrorism as a tactic, all other aspects of Hamas, including its extensive social services programs and its role as a political party are overshadowed and often ignored by policy makers. Others recognize the complexity of Hamas as an organisation and suggest that Hamas will continue to transform itself into a full political party and eventually disarm and cease all violent tactics. They view Hamas as a complex organisation with terrorism as only one component, which is likely to evolve into a non-violent political party."
^Taub, Amanda (7 August 2014)."Did Israel violate international law in Gaza?".Vox. Retrieved29 January 2024.It is true that Hamas and other-Gaza based militants aren't complying with international law themselves. They target Israeli civilians in rocket attacks, commingle military sites and operations with civilian institutions, and, according to some reports, force people to remain in buildings after warnings from the Israeli military in order to serve as human shields.
^Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak; Dr. Jonathan Spyer (25 January 2021)."Turkish Militias and Proxies".trendsresearch. Archived fromthe original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved17 April 2022.
Gelvin, James L. (2014). "The Palestinian National Movement Comes of Age".The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War (3rd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 226.ISBN978-1-107-61354-6.
Gerner, Deborah J. (2007)."Mobilizing Women for Nationalist Agendas". In Moghadam, Valentine M. (ed.).From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Women's Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Syracuse University Press. pp. 17–39.ISBN978-0815631118.
Gunning, Jeroen (2007)."Hamas: Harakat al-Muqamama al-Islamiyya". In Marianne Heiberg; Brendan O'Leary (eds.).Terror, Insurgency, and the State: Ending Protracted Conflicts. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 134–.ISBN978-0812239744.
Hueston, Harry Raymond; Pierpaoli, Paul G.; Zahar, Sherifa (2014)."Hamas". In Roberts, Priscilla (ed.).Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Essential Reference Guide.ABC-CLIO. pp. 67–71.ISBN978-1610690683.
Robinson, Glenn E. (2004)."Hamas as a Social Movement". In Wiktorowicz, Quintan (ed.).Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach. Indiana University Press. pp. 112–39.ISBN978-0253216212.
Tom Stevenson, "Illusions of Containment" (review of Beverly Milton-Edwards andStephen Farrell,Hamas: The Quest for Power, Polity, 2024,ISBN978 1 5095 6493 4, 331 pp.),London Review of Books, vol. 47, no. 2 (6 February 2025), pp. 7–10.
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