1. Home
  2. Terrorist Organizations
  3. Hamas

Hamas

Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (September 21-27, 2023)

A Lebanese tractor crossed the border into Israeli territory, in the Har Dov area, and took down a mound erected by the IDF. According to the Lebanese army, the tractor operated in Lebanese territory. At the same time, the Lebanese army was paving a road nearby. IDF forces also continued their work in the area. In an interview to an Iranian news channel, Wafiq Safa, head of Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit, said that it was still too early to predict whether the decisive campaign against Israel was imminent In the Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp, a temporary calm is apparent. Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s interim prime minister, said in an interview that a peace agreement with Israel could only be possible through negotiations carried out by the Arab League . A drone targeted, apparently in Syria, two Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives. The two were killed. In one of the reports, the attack was attributed to Israel. Hezbollah reportedly moved a system of surface-to-air missiles from Lebanon to one of its bases in the Dimas area on the outskirts of Damascus.
Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (September 20-27, 2023)

This past week Palestinians carried out eight terrorist attacks: six were shooting attacks a stabbing attack and a vehicular ramming attack. The Israeli security forces continued carrying out counterterrorism activities. Khaled Tabila, a senior Lion's Den group operative, was detained in Nablus; in an activity in Birzeit University, eight operatives of Hamas' Islamic Bloc student faction, who were planning terrorist attacks . violent clashes continued along the border security fence in the Gaza Strip. International and Arab efforts at mediation have yet to bear fruit. Reports continue about the Hamas administration's severe financial hardship. Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. It was his usual annual litany of complaints and demands, accusations against Israel and the assertion that the Palestinians would continue their "peaceful popular resistance" [popular terrorism]. His speech disappointed the Palestinians, who claimed that it was not assertive enough and did not reflect "the Palestinians' situation."
Read more...

The mass exodus of young men from the Gaza Strip

In recent years, the desire to emigrate from the Gaza Strip, with the overwhelming majority of the émigrés' being young men, has increased; it is difficult to estimate its scope because Hamas does not publish exact numbers. However, according to several reports, since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, between about 250,000 and 350,000 young adults have left and gone abroad. Their initial destination is Turkey, from where their intention is to continue to other countries, primarily European countries and Canada.The issue recently made headlines after on September 9, 2023, there were violent clashes between hundreds of young Gazans and the security guards of a travel agency in Gaza City which had received a monopoly for issuing visas to Turkey. Apparently the exodus is increasing and the events at the travel agency's offices was a manifestation of the growing demand for visas. The most prominent causes are the lack of hope and employment possibilities. Hamas tries to minimize and obscure the extent of emigration Currently, more people are being born in the Gaza Strip than are leaving it, but the mass emigration of the specific age group in question may affect its social and economic structure. In addition, for the most part, the military wings of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are composed of operatives belonging to the demographic, therefore it is unclear if mass emigration will affect them and their activities.
Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (September 13-20, 2023)

This past week Palestinians carried out seven terrorist attacks. The Israeli security forces continued counterterrorism activities, focusing on Jeninn and Jericho; five Palestinians were killed. Meanwhile, the Palestinian security forces continued to detain wanted persons in Jenin. During the Jewish New Year tensions increased when Jewish worshipers entered the Temple Mount; the event was condemned by Palestinians and Arab countries.This past week riots were renewed along the Gaza border. One Palestinian was killed by IDF forces in the southern Gaza Strip and five others were killed by an explosive device in the eastern Gaza Strip before it could thrown at Israeli soldiers The Palestinian Authority (PA) continued its activities in preparation for Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2023. Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh are exploiting the visit to New York to meet with world leaders to mobilize support for the Palestinian issue.
Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (September 6-12, 2023)

This past week Palestinians carried out four terrorist attacks. Three were shooting attacks one was a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israeli security forces continued counterterrorism activities, focusing on Jenin and near Jericho. A rocket was unsuccessfully launched from west of Jenin at the Gilboa settlements in Israel. The rocket fell in Palestinian territory. Saleh al-'Arouri, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, said the "resistance" [anti-Israel terrorism] in Judea and Samaria would continue to develop. On September 12, 2023, the joint operations room of the military-terrorist wings of the Palestinian organizations held its fourth "military" maneuver. Hamas banned protest demonstrations near the security fence after that became a condition for the resumption of activity at the Kerem Shalom Crossing. Harsh international condemnations were leveled at Mahmoud Abbas' anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying remarks in a speech at a meeting of Fatah's Revolutionary Council.
Read more...

Possible Renewal of the Return Marches

On August 30, 2023, the Supreme National Authority for Return Marches and Lifting the Siege issued an announcement about rebuilding the return camps near the border security fence in the eastern Gaza Strip and preparing them for the possible renewal of the return marches. Despite the announcement, the possibility of renewing the return marches and the events along the border, the Supreme National Authority leadership claimed it had not yet made a decision because an in-depth discussion was required and there had to be a national consensus. Moreover, contrary to the unified position of the past, many Palestinian organizations, led by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), currently oppose the renewal of the return marches, mainly because from their perspective they are not "cost-effective." Senior figures in the Gaza Strip, political commentators, and social media users argued that the Palestinians had paid a steep price for the return marches while the situation in the Gaza Strip had not improved.
Read more...

Previous years bulletins

20232022202120202019201820172016201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004

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.