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.
The 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.
Maryam Mohammad Yousif Farhat, or Mariam Farahat, more commonly known as Umm Nidal was a Palestinian activist popularly known by Palestinians as the "Mother of Martyrs" for her support for her sons' involvement in attacks against Israel. Three of her sons were members of Hamas who committed suicide bombings on Israeli civilians. She was a close associate of the Hamas leadership for over 2 decades. Farhat had strong militant credentials, including an appearance carrying a gun in a video in which she advised one of her sons, Mohammed, on tactics before he attacked a Jewish settlement. Mohammed, 17, killed five Israelis before he was shot dead in the assault in the occupied Gaza Strip in 2002. Farhat’s eldest son, Nidal, was killed in 2003 as he was preparing for another attack. A third son, Rawad, died earlier this year in an Israeli air strike on his car, which was carrying rockets. She also was a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Hamas. Farhat was one of the most prominent Islamist female leaders in Gaza and became an icon of the Second Intifada.
Shuja'iyya, also Shejaiya, Shijaiyeh, Shujayya, Shuja'ia, Shuja'iya, is the southern quarter of Old City of Gaza, and the only quarter of the Old City located outside the historical city walls. It is one of the largest neighborhoods in Gaza, once holding 92,000 to 100,000 residents. It is located east of Gaza's city center, and its nucleus is situated on a hill located across the main Salah al-Din Road that runs north-south throughout the Gaza Strip. Shuja'iyya contains several ancient structures, mosques and tombs. The Commonwealth War Cemetery is located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of the commercial center of the neighborhood.
Emad Akel also spelled Imad Akel was a commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He was killed by the Israel Defense Forces.
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 combination of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes 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 until October 2024, succeeded Saleh al-Arouri after his assassination. 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.
The Battle of Shuja'iyya occurred between the Israel Defense Forces and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades on 20 July 2014 during 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip. Shuja'iyya, with 92,000 people in 6 sq-kilometres, is one of the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, it had become a "terrorist fortress", that between 8 and 20 July had fired over 140 rockets into Israel after the outbreak of hostilities. Casualty figures are not known with precision, partly because bodies were recovered long after the fighting, and people had also died of injuries afterwards. The UN Protection Cluster states that between the 19-20th, 55 civilians, including 19 children and 14 women, were killed as a result of the IDF's actions. At the time, estimates varied from 66 to about 120 Palestinians killed, with a third of them women and children, and at least 288 wounded. The UN figures of Palestinian casualties are preliminary and subject to revision. 16 Israeli soldiers were killed.
The following is a timeline of the 2014 Gaza War. Over 2014, Palestinians suffered the highest number of civilian casualties since the Six-Day War in 1967, according to a United Nations report, given the July–August conflict, and rising tolls in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A spike in Israeli casualties also occurred. 2,256 Palestinians and 85 Israelis died, while 17,125 Palestinians, and 2,639 Israelis suffered injuries.
Gaza War may refer to the 1948–present Gaza–Israel conflict, or a more specific event:
On July 21, 2014, Hamas announced it had captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Oron Shaul during the Battle of Shuja'iyya. Initially Israel denied the capture, but later acknowledged it. Shaul is presumed by Israel to be dead, and there were negotiations between Israel and Hamas to exchange his body for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Basem Naim is a Palestinian physician, politician, and Hamas official. Naim served as Minister of Health in the First Haniyeh Government; then, as Minister of Youth and Sports in the Palestinian National Unity Government of March 2007.
Max Donald Steinberg was an American-Israeli soldier in the Israel Defense Forces killed in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 Gaza War. A lone soldier, his funeral in Israel was attended by over 30,000 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Wissam Abu Hussein Farhat was a Head of Hamas's Shejaiya Battalion. He was the mastermind behind various attacks such as the Atzmona Massacre, the Nahal Oz attack and more.
On 13 December 2023, during the wider Israeli invasion of Gaza, Hamas forces carried out an ambush at Shuja'iyya. The ambush resulted in the deaths of 10 Israeli soldiers. One of the dead soldiers was Colonel Yitzhak Ben-Bashat.
On 15 December 2023, three Israeli hostages were killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the Battle of Shuja'iyya in the Gaza Strip. The men had emerged from a building and were approaching a group of IDF soldiers when they were shot dead, in spite of the fact that they were shirtless and visibly unarmed while waving a makeshift white flag and calling out for help in Hebrew. The incident provoked widespread domestic and international criticism of the IDF and of the Israeli government's attempts to resolve the hostage crisis through total war. It also led to increased condemnation from abroad of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. The IDF acknowledged that the three hostages, who were kidnapped by Hamas during the 7 October attacks, had been killed after they were "mistakenly identified as a threat," prompting renewed protests in Israel against the incumbent Netanyahu-led government.
During the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Shuja'iyya was the last district in Gaza City that had not been subject to an Israeli ground invasion, and as a result many Palestinians who had not been able to evacuate south had sought refuge in the district. Despite this, the Israel Defense Forces had shelled and bombarded targets in Shuja'iyya for weeks before invading on December 4. On the 26th of December, Israel withdrew from Shuja'iyya, announcing that the local Hamas battalion had been defeated. Despite this, militants continued to attack Israeli forces within the town.
The Second Battle of Shuja'iyya was a military battle between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian forces during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which ended in an Israeli withdrawal. Fought from 27 June 2024 to 10 July 2024, it was the second engagement between the two sides in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City.
