Operation Cast Lead—Update No. 4
On December 30, the fourth day of Operation Cast Lead, over 50 additional terrorist sites were attacked by the Israeli Air Force and Navy.
Read more...
Hamas
Operation Cast Lead—Update No. 3
On December 29, the third day of Operation Cast Lead, Israeli Air Force raids continued on targets of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. The targets of the attacks included military installations, Hamas’s administration symbols, terrorist operatives, and arms and ammunition.
Read more...
Operation Cast Lead—Update No. 2
On December 28, Israeli Air Force attacked more than 90 Hamas targets, including military infrastructure, Hamas’s administration facilities, and terrorist operatives.
Read more...
Operation Cast Lead – Update No. 1
At 11:30 on December 27 Israeli Air Force planes struck a number of targets of Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations in an operation dubbed “Cast Lead.”
Read more...
Escalation in the south: more than 60 rockets and mortar shells fired at the cities of Ashqelon, Netivot, Sderot and other population centers in the western Negev. Hamas claims responsibility for most of the attacks.
On December 24, five days after the lull arrangement ended, the cities of Ashqelon, Netivot and Sderot, the towns and villages near the Gaza Strip, the crossings and IDF bases were subjected to a massive rocket and mortar shell attack. At least 60 rockets and mortar shells were fired, most of them by Hamas.
Read more...
Intensive rocket fire attacks against western Negev population centers and the Ashqelon region after Hamas announces the end of the lull arrangement
At 0600 hours on the morning of December 19 the lull arrangement ended, six months after it began, according to a unilateral announcement made by Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations. Israel’s position was that the lull was unlimited in time.
Read more...
Previous years bulletins
20232022202120202019201820172016201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004Hamas
Hamas is a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim organization founded in the Gaza Strip in 1987 by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. It seeks to establish an Islamic state on the entire territory of the State of Israel and does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.
The Hamas leadership has two branches: the internal leadership, which includes the military wing and the de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, responsible for the day-to-day activities of governing the Gaza Strip population, in addition to social, educational activity vis-à-vis the population of the Gaza Strip; and the external leadership, Hamas’s political bureau, located beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria. The external leadership maintains relations with various countries and bodies, and deals mainly with raising money and finding other resources for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s ideology seeks to establish an Islamic Palestinian state on the entire territory of Israel. The preferred way to achieve this goal is through armed struggle. Hamas has a military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which carries out terrorist attacks against Israel, including rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and various kinds of other attacks (such as shooting, suicide bombings, abductions etc.) in the territories of Judea, Samaria and Israel.
Over the years, Hamas has challenged the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, causing conflicts between the sides, culminating in June 2007 with Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip and the suppression of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority members. Ever since, the rift between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority has grown.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including Israel, the United States, and the European Union.