The Islamic Resistance Movement,abbreviated Hamas,is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organisation with a military wing called the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.
Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri,better known as Mohammed Deif,is a Palestinian militant and the head of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades,the military wing of the Islamist organization Hamas.
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi was a Palestinian political leader and co-founder of Hamas,along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987. He also served as the chairman of the Hamas Shura Council from March 2004 until his assassination in April 2004 and the first deputy chairman of the Hamas Shura Council from December 1987 until March 2004.
The Popular Resistance Committees is a coalition of a number of armed Palestinian groups opposed to what they regard as the conciliatory approach of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel.
Mohammad Yusuf Dahlan is a Palestinian politician. Arrested by Israel for being involved with the Fatah Hawks—the Fatah youth movement—he subsequently helped in negotiations for the Oslo Accords,later becoming a critic of Yasser Arafat. The former leader of Fatah in the Gaza Strip,Dahlan's power there as head of the Preventive Security Force was at one time so substantial that the territory was nicknamed "Dahlanistan". Seen as a favorite by the George W. Bush administration to be Mahmoud Abbas' second-in-command,Dahlan was appointed by the latter to head the Palestinian National Security Council. An antagonist of Hamas,he participated in the Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement before his power began to decline after the latter gained the upper hand in the Battle of Gaza. He was controversially elected to the Central Committee of Fatah amid allegations of fraud. Living in exile in Abu Dhabi,Dahlan has,according to Foreign Policy,had a hand in facilitating the Abraham Accords.
Mahmoud al-Zahar is a Palestinian politician. He is a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. Al-Zahar served as foreign minister in the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority Government of March 2006 that was sworn in on 20 March 2006.
Al-Qassam Brigades,also known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades,named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam,is the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his presumed death on 13 July 2024,the Al-Qassam Brigades is the largest and best-equipped militia operating within the Gaza Strip in recent years.
Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence or terrorism committed by Palestinians with the intent to accomplish political goals,and often carried out in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Common objectives of political violence by Palestinian groups include self-determination in and sovereignty over all of the region of Palestine,or the recognition of a Palestinian state inside the 1967 borders. This includes the objective of ending the Israeli occupation. More limited goals include the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and recognition of the Palestinian right of return.
The Fatah–Hamas conflict is an ongoing political and strategic conflict between Fatah and Hamas,the two main Palestinian political parties in the Palestinian territories,leading to the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The reconciliation process and unification of Hamas and Fatah administrations remains unfinalized and the situation is deemed a frozen conflict.
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948,when about 200,000 of the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes settled in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then,Israel has been involved in about 15 wars involving organizations in the Gaza Strip. The number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing 2023–2024 war (41,000) is higher than the death toll of all other wars in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict combined.
The Gaza War,also known as the First Gaza War,Operation Cast Lead,or the Gaza Massacre,and referred to as the Battle of al-Furqan by Hamas,was a three-week armed conflict between Gaza Strip Palestinian paramilitary groups and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that began on 27 December 2008 and ended on 18 January 2009 with a unilateral ceasefire. The conflict resulted in 1,166–1,417 Palestinian and 13 Israeli deaths. Over 46,000 homes were destroyed in Gaza,making more than 100,000 people homeless.
Since 2001,Palestinian militants have launched tens of thousands of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip as part of the continuing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The attacks,widely condemned for targeting civilians,have been described as terrorism by the United Nations,the European Union,and Israeli officials,and are defined as war crimes by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The international community considers indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets to be illegal under international law. Palestinian militants say rocket attacks are a response to Israel's blockade of Gaza,but the Palestinian Authority has condemned them and says rocket attacks undermine peace.
Legislative elections were held in the Palestinian territories on 25 January 2006 in order to elect the second Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC),the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The result was a victory for Hamas,contesting under the list name of Change and Reform,which received 44.45% of the vote and won 74 of the 132 seats,whilst the ruling Fatah received 41.43% of the vote and won 45 seats.
The Battle of Gaza,also known as the Gaza civil war,was a brief civil war between Fatah and Hamas that took place in the Gaza Strip from 10 to 15 June 2007. It was a prominent event in the Fatah–Hamas conflict,centered on the struggle for power after Fatah lost the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. The battle resulted in the dissolution of the unity government and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities:the West Bank governed by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA),and the Gaza Strip governed by Hamas. Hamas fighters took control of the Gaza Strip,while Fatah officials were either taken as prisoners,executed,or expelled. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that at least 161 people were killed and more than 700 were wounded during the fighting.
Ismail Haniyeh was a Palestinian politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination in July 2024. He also served as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 2006 until June 2014 and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip from June 2007 until February 2017,where he was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar.
The 2014 Gaza War,also known as Operation Protective Edge,and Battle of the Withered Grain,was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip,a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas-affiliated Palestinian militants,the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated Operation Brother's Keeper,in which it killed 10 Palestinians,injured 130 and imprisoned more than 600. Hamas reportedly did not retaliate but resumed rocket attacks on Israel more than two weeks later,following the killing of one of its militants by an Israeli airstrike on 29 June. This escalation triggered a seven-week-long conflict between the two sides,one of the deadliest outbreaks of open conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The war resulted in over two thousand deaths,the vast majority of which were Gazan Palestinians. This includes a total of six Israeli civilians who were killed as a result of the conflict.
Khalil al-Hayya is a Palestinian politician who has served as the deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau since August 2024,succeeding deceased Saleh al-Arouri. He also serving as one of the acting quinquevirate leadership of Hamas,alongside with Khaled Mashal,Zaher Jabarin,Muhammad Ismail Darwish,and an unnamed Hamas official after Yahya Sinwar was killed by the IDF in October 2024. He also was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council since January 2006 as a representative of Gaza City.
Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar was a Palestinian militant and politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from August 2024,and as the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from February 2017,until his death in October 2024,succeeding Ismail Haniyeh in both roles.
Gaza-Israel clashes began on 11 November 2018,when a botched Israeli covert operation carried out in the Khan Yunis area of the southern Gaza Strip killed seven Palestinian militants and one Israeli soldier. Exchanges of fire lasted for two more days,until a cease fire was achieved with Egyptian mediation. Some minor incidents and protests followed some two weeks after the cease fire,with decreasing intensity.
