Is Hamas a terrorist organization? Breaking down the complex reality of the Gaza-based militant group
WASHINGTON, DC: Hamas, officially known as the "Islamic Resistance Movement" (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya), is a Palestinian Islamist militant organization and one of the major political parties in the Palestinian territories. It primarily governs the Gaza Strip, an area with over two million Palestinian residents.
However, Hamas is perhaps best known for its armed resistance to Israel and its long-standing conflict with the Israeli government.
On Saturday, October 7, Hamas made headlines by launching a massive surprise attack on southern Israel, resulting in hundreds of casualties, including both civilians and soldiers, and taking dozens more as hostages.
Israel, in response, declared war on the group and signaled its intention to conduct a prolonged campaign to defeat Hamas.
Hamas's militant activities have led to its designation as a terrorist organization by dozens of countries, though some apply this label specifically to its military wing.
Notably, Iran has been a prominent source of material and financial support for Hamas. Turkey has also reportedly harbored some of Hamas's top leaders.
In contrast to Hamas, its rival party Fatah, which dominates the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and governs the West Bank, has officially renounced violence, according to Vox.
This political split in Palestinian leadership, coupled with Hamas's unwavering hostility toward Israel, has severely diminished the prospects for stability in the Gaza Strip and any lasting peace negotiations in the region.
Origins of Hamas
Hamas's roots can be traced back to the late 1960s, with its founding figure being Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Sheikh Yassin, a Palestinian cleric, transitioned from a life of Islamic scholarship in Cairo to become an activist in local branches of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood's ideology influenced Hamas significantly. Hamas was officially established as the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza in December 1987, following the outbreak of the first intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
At the time of its founding, Hamas's main objective was to counter the influence of another Palestinian organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which also advocated for violent resistance against Israel, potentially diverting support away from the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 1988, Hamas published its charter, which explicitly called for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic society in historic Palestine. This uncompromising stance towards Israel marked a significant hurdle in any potential peace negotiations.
Despite this, in an attempt to moderate its image, Hamas presented a new document in 2017, accepting the idea of an interim Palestinian state along the pre-1967 Six-Day War "Green Line" borders but still refusing to recognize Israel.
Violent tactics
Hamas embraced the use of suicide bombings as a tactic in April 1993, a few months before the Oslo Accords were signed by PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. These historic accords established limited self-government for certain areas in the West Bank and Gaza, creating a new entity known as the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Notably, Hamas vehemently opposed the Oslo Accords, the PLO's recognition of Israel, and the corresponding agreements. This refusal to accept the legitimacy of Israel contributed to its designation as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in 1997.
Hamas played a leading role in violent resistance during the second intifada in the early 2000s. However, it's important to note that Hamas was not the only Palestinian group responsible for violence against Israelis during this period. PIJ and Fatah's Tanzim militia were also involved in these violent acts.
Hamas's leadership structure
Hamas operates under a multifaceted leadership structure, including political, military, and social bodies. Its overarching policies are determined by a consultative body often referred to as the politburo, which operates in exile. In addition, there are local committees responsible for managing grassroots issues in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Ismail Haniyeh currently serves as the political chief of Hamas, having replaced long-time leader Khaled Meshaal in 2017. Haniyeh has been operating from Doha, Qatar, since 2020, reportedly due to restrictions on his movement into and out of Gaza imposed by Egypt.
After falling out with their previous host, Syria, when Palestinian refugees participated in the 2011 uprising preceding the Syrian Civil War, Hamas leaders established a presence in Qatar. Some senior figures of Hamas are believed to operate from the group's offices in Turkey.
Day-to-day affairs in Gaza are overseen by Yahya Sinwar, who previously led Hamas's military wing and had spent twenty-two years in an Israeli prison for his involvement in the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers. He was one of more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Hamas.
As of June 2023, Gaza's de facto prime minister is Issam al-Da'alis. The military wing of Hamas, known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is under the command of Marwan Issa and Mohammed Deif.
Notably, Israeli forces assassinated the militia's founder, Salah Shehadeh, in a 2002 airstrike. This attack, however, led to the death of fifteen civilians and attracted intense scrutiny, both domestically and internationally. In 2004, Israeli forces also killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas.
Saleh al-Arouri reportedly leads Hamas's Lebanon branch. He also assumed the role of West Bank leadership following internal elections concluded in 2021. Khaled Meshaal was chosen to lead the diaspora office, while Salameh Katawi was elected to manage the affairs of imprisoned Hamas members.
Hamas's sources of funding
As a designated terrorist entity, Hamas is cut off from official assistance provided to the PLO in the West Bank by the United States and the European Union (EU).
Historically, much of Hamas's funding came from Palestinian expatriates and private donors in the Persian Gulf. Some Islamic charities in the West have also been accused of channeling funds to Hamas-backed social service groups, which has led to asset freezes by the US Treasury.
Gaza's economic situation had already reached dire straits before Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel. The conflict further exacerbated the extreme poverty faced by its residents. Egypt and Israel had largely closed their borders with Gaza in 2006–07, significantly restricting the movement of goods and people into and out of the territory.
This blockade continues to this day, effectively isolating Gaza from most of the world. This has left over one million Gazan Palestinians heavily reliant on international aid for their basic needs.
Israel has allowed Qatar to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to Gaza through Hamas. In general, foreign aid reaches Gaza through the Palestinian Authority (PA) and UN agencies.
In the years following the imposition of the blockade, Hamas generated revenue by taxing goods moving through a complex network of tunnels that circumvented the Egyptian border into Gaza. These tunnels facilitated the smuggling of vital supplies such as food, medicine, cheap gas for electricity production, construction materials, cash, and arms.
However, in 2013, after Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi came to power, Cairo adopted a hostile stance towards Hamas, considering it an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, a domestic rival.
As a result, Egypt shut down most of the tunnels that breached its territory and began allowing limited commercial goods to enter Gaza through its Salah al-Din border crossing in 2018. Hamas reportedly collected more than $12 million per month from taxes on Egyptian goods imported into Gaza.
Today, Iran is one of Hamas's most significant benefactors, contributing funds, weapons, and training. Although Iran and Hamas briefly had a falling out during Syria's civil war, Iran currently provides approximately $100 million annually to Hamas, PIJ, and other Palestinian groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.
Iran quickly expressed support for Hamas's attack on Israel in 2023, pledging its continuing support for the Palestinian group. Turkey has also been a steadfast backer of Hamas and a vocal critic of Israel. This support has grown since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2002.
While Ankara insists that its support for Hamas is primarily political, it has faced accusations of funding Hamas's terrorism, including through aid redirected from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency.
Hamas's governance in Gaza
Hamas has functioned as the de facto authority in Gaza since shortly after Israel's withdrawal from the territory in 2005. The following year, Hamas won a majority of seats in the PA's legislature and formed a government.
It garnered votes for the social services it provided and as a rejection of the incumbent Fatah, which many voters saw as having grown corrupt during its tenure within the PLO and delivering minimal gains to Palestinians through its negotiations with Israel. This electoral outcome was unacceptable to Fatah and its Western supporters. As a result, Fatah ousted Hamas from power in the West Bank.
In Gaza, Hamas engaged in a week-long conflict with Fatah's militias, effectively solidifying its control over the territory and resulting in a political schism between the two Palestinian regions. Notably, Palestinians have not participated in legislative or presidential elections since 2006 and 2008, respectively.
As Hamas took control of what remained of PA institutions in Gaza, it established a judiciary and put in place authoritarian structures. Theoretically, Hamas governs according to the Sharia-based Palestinian Basic Law, a framework that is also followed by the PA. However, in practice, Hamas has often been more restrictive than the law requires.
During the early years of its rule, this included controlling women's attire and enforcing gender segregation in public spaces. Freedom House, a watchdog organization, found in 2020 that the "Hamas-controlled government has no effective or independent mechanisms for ensuring transparency in its funding, procurements, or operations."
Furthermore, Hamas has a history of suppressing the Gazan media, civilian activism on social media, political opposition, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This lack of accountability mechanisms has raised concerns regarding its governance.
Palestinian views on Hamas
The political division between the West Bank and Gaza is widely unpopular among Palestinians. A June 2023 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) revealed that one-third of Palestinians regarded this division as the most damaging development for their people since Israel's establishment in 1948.
In the same poll, more than half of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank indicated they would vote for Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh over PA President Mahmoud Abbas in a presidential election. This preference for Haniyeh, rather than Abbas, speaks to the significant disillusionment with the current political leadership.
It's worth noting that Abbas indefinitely postponed national elections scheduled for 2021, citing Israel's alleged refusal to permit Palestinians in East Jerusalem to vote. However, many observers suspect that Abbas's true motivation is to prevent an expected Hamas victory.
Hamas's challenges to Israel
Hamas has employed various tactics to challenge Israel over the years. One of its most well-known methods is the launching of rockets and mortars into Israel.
Iran is said to have provided some of these weapons, but Hamas has also developed the capability to manufacture its own rockets, thanks to training and support from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and proxies.
Before the 2023 conflict, Israel estimated that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza possessed around thirty thousand rockets and mortars. In addition to rocket attacks, Hamas has used incendiary balloons launched towards Israel, resulting in fires. The group has also conducted incursions into Israeli territory, leading to the killing and kidnapping of soldiers and civilians.
The deadliest fighting between Hamas and Israel in recent years took place in 2021. This conflict was triggered when Hamas fired rockets into Israel following weeks of escalating tensions in Jerusalem between Palestinians and Israelis. Some analysts believe that Hamas aimed to bolster its reputation as a defender of the Palestinian cause, particularly after the PA postponed the 2021 elections.
During the eleven-day conflict, both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired more than four thousand rockets from Gaza into Israel. This resulted in the deaths of ten Israeli civilians and injuries to more than three hundred others.
Hamas was reportedly coordinated in its efforts with the IRGC and Lebanon's Hezbollah, employing suicide drones in addition to its usual arsenal of less precise missiles. The United States and Egypt played a key role in brokering a ceasefire to end this conflict.
Unique aspects of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel
Hamas's attack on southern Israel in 2023, termed "Operation Al-Aqsa Storm" by the group's leaders, was extraordinary in multiple ways. It was unique in its strategy, scale, and secrecy.
The attack began early in the morning on October 7, coinciding with the Jewish Sabbath and an important Jewish holiday.
Hamas launched several thousand rockets into southern and central Israel, with some rockets reaching as far north as Tel Aviv.
Hamas's militants also managed to breach the heavily fortified Gaza-Israel border, infiltrating numerous southern Israeli towns and villages. This breach led to the deaths of hundreds of Israeli troops and civilians, and the wounding and kidnapping of scores more.
The motivation behind this massive assault, as articulated by Hamas's military leader, Mohammed Deif, was rooted in Israel's longstanding blockade of Gaza, its occupation of Palestinian lands, and alleged crimes against Muslims, including the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
This attack was the deadliest assault on Israeli soil in decades and inflicted profound psychological trauma on the Israeli population.
What makes this attack unique and even shocking is that neither Israeli nor US intelligence agencies had prior indications that Hamas was planning an assault of this magnitude.
Analysts have called this unprecedented and noted that it's entirely uncharacteristic for a terrorist organization to have the capacity and the wherewithal to carry out coordinated, simultaneous assaults from the air, sea, and land.
In response to this attack, Israel declared war on Hamas and intensified air strikes on targets within Gaza. Ground operations have also been launched to drive Hamas militants out of the country. The Israeli government ordered the evacuation of civilians from Israeli communities along the Gaza border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of a "long and difficult war" against Hamas, and Israel's military response is expected to be extraordinary, if not unprecedented.
Some observers are wondering whether Israel might attempt a full-scale invasion and reoccupation of the Palestinian territory.
Such an operation could incur heavy casualties on both sides and have far-reaching implications for the region. It could also prompt a significant response against Israel by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon, leading to a more extensive conflagration, according to PBS.
Given Iran's patronage of both Hezbollah and Hamas, there's a constant risk of a two-front conflict that could have devastating consequences for parts of Israel and Lebanon. Having said that, the volatile situation underscores the high stakes and geopolitical challenges associated with the ongoing conflict.