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Hamas

News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 22-28, 2021)

Terrorist attacks: This past week a vehicular ramming attack in northern Samaria and two shooting attacks, one near al-Bireh and the other near Nablus, targeted Israeli security forces. No casualties were reported. However, relative calm continues in the Gaza Strip, accompanied by threats from Hamas and the other terrorist organizations to gradually escalate the "struggle" against Israel because of Israel's [alleged] delaying tactics in easing the daily lives of the Gazans and in rebuilding the Gaza Strip. The PA, Hamas and the PIJ strongly condemned the remarks made by Knesset Member Mahmoud Abbas, who stated that Israel was a Jewish state and would remain as one. The coronavirus: There was a slight decrease in the number of active cases in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. In Judea and Samaria 35 Palestinians were found to have contracted the omicron variant; the first case of the variant was detected in the Gaza Strip.
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Mounting tension between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority because of Hamas’ efforts to strengthen its status among the Palestinians

The growing increase of Hamas' popularity in Palestinian society, at the expense of Fatah, was boosted when Mahmoud Abbas' delayed, and in effect canceled, the Palestinian Authority (PA) parliamentary and presidential elections. It increased further after Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021) when Hamas positioned itself as the "defender" of Jerusalem, the Muslim holy sites and the Palestinian residents of the city. Hamas has been fomenting popular unrest to solidify its position as the Palestinians' main influencer, with tactics including demonstrations of strength in Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem to undermine security in the PA territories while maintaining relative calm in the Gaza Strip to advance an arrangement with Israel.
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News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 14-21, 2021)

Terrorist attacks: On December 16, 2021, Palestinians ambushed an Israeli vehicle near Homesh, north of Nablus, and shot at the driver and passengers, killing one and wounding two. The shooters fled the scene. In Judea and Samaria Palestinians continued throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles driving on the roads. Hamas' military-terrorist wing carried out a military exercise in the Gaza Strip. In Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip there was an increase in the number of active cases of Covid-19. The PA reported six cases of the omicron variant and expects rise in infection.
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The explosion of a weapons storehouse in the Burj al-Shemali refugee camp east of Tyre revealed the extent of Hamas’ military presence in Lebanon.

On the evening of December 10, 2021 there was an explosion in the Burj al-Shemali Palestinian refugee camp east of Tyre in south Lebanon. The media in Tyre reported it had taken place in a storeroom under a mosque, damaging the mosque and nearby structures. The Lebanese National News Agency reported the blast had killed and wounded several people (Lebanese National News Agency, December 10, 2021).
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News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 8-14, 2021)

Two Palestinians were killed in Israeli security force activities in Nablus and the village of Bayta. Mourners at their funerals carried weapons and chanted their support for Muhammad Deif, commander of Hamas' military-terrorist wing. Palestinians continued throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles driving on the roads. On December 7, 2021, the Israeli defense ministry announced the completion of the underground barrier along the Israeli-Gaza Strip border, a project that had taken three and a half years. This past week clashes between Palestinians (for the most part Hamas operatives) and the PA security forces continued.
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Palestinian condemnations of the British decision to outlaw Hamas’ political bureau

On November 26, 2021, the British Parliament approved the Home Secretary's Order and designated Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organization. That means that "members of Hamas or those who invite support for the group could be jailed for up to 14 years" (British government website, November 26, 2021). The organization's military-terrorist wing had already been outlawed in March 2001. However, a reassessment of the situation led the British government to outlaw Hamas political bureau as well.
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Hamas

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.