We’ve all heard of Hamas, whether before or after October 7th. Here we will uncover what the name means, their stance on a Jewish state, and where they came from. The terrorist organization Hamas was founded in December of 1987 in Gaza as a political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was founded by a Palestinian cleric named Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who founded it after the First Intifada, an uprising against the Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank at the time.
Hamas is actually an acronym (a word made of the first letters of a word to shorten a sentence), and it stands for Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-ISlamiya, which is Arabic for “Islamic Resistance Movement”. Hamas took power in Gaza in 2006 and there hasn’t been an election in the area since. The only election was between the PA (Palestinian Authority), represented by Fatah and Hamas, representing the Muslim Brotherhood. After the election, Fatah was kicked out of Gaza by Hamas. After that, Hamas put in place a military theocracy (a dictatorship under control by the law of a religion.)
Hamas is currently commanded by Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Doha, Qatar. The structure of Hamas puts the Gazan People at the bottom of society and gives members and elites of Hamas better privileges. Hamas uses money given for aid to the people of Gaza to build bombs and secret military bases under schools and hospitals while simultaneously stealing funding from the schools and hospitals they’re using.
On December 27 of 2008, The IDF (Israeli Defense Force) started a 22-day offensive into Gaza following Hamas rockets being launched into the city of Sderot. In the following years airstrikes and rockets were launched from both sides but did not reach another full blown war until 2014 when Hamas kidnapped and killed 3 Israeli teenagers which was followed by a seven week offensive that ended in August of 2014. In 2018, protests along the border with Gaza were followed by skirmishes before blowing up into a war. In May of 2021, several events including protests and arguments over East Jerusalem erupted into a war. It didn’t last more than a month but was an important event in the history of the relationship between Hamas and Israel.
In 2023, during Simchat Torah on October 7th, Hamas terrorists moved into southern Israel and killed 1300 people as well as injuring more than 5000 more. Israel responded with a declaration of war against Hamas. The war is still ongoing, as Hamas keeps fighting back. If Israel is successful in this war, Hamas will never pose a threat again.
