What is Hamas? A closer look at the group behind deadly attack on Israel
globalnews.caIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “crush and destroy” the militant group Hamas in response to its surprise weekend attack that has shaken the Middle East and the world.
Netanyahu said every Hamas member is a “dead man,” as Israeli troops mass near the Gaza border while airstrikes rain down on the region. Roughly 2,800 peopled have died on both sides of the conflict so far.
But what is Hamas? Here is everything you need to know.
Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Resistance Movement. It was founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
It was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric.
According to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s counter-terrorism guide, Hamashas roots in “the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood,” which was established in Egypt in the 1920s.
It is one of a broad group of actors in the region including Iran, Syria and the Shi’ite Islamist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, which broadly oppose U.S. policy in the Middle East and Israel.
In 1988, Hamas published its charter, calling for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic society for Palestinians, the Council on Foreign Relations states on its website.
Hamas presented a new document in 2017 that suggested it would accept an interim Palestinian state along the “Green Line” border established before the 1967 Six-Day War, but refused to recognize Israel.
Hamas has a militant wing, which has sent gunmen and suicide bombers into Israel. Hamas calls its armed activities resistance against Israeli occupation.
Hamas won 2006 legislative elections and in
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