Last Saturday, October 7, the Hamas terrorist group carried out a brutal attack. Hamas penetrated Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, killing Israeli and foreign residents and military personnel, and capturing hostages.
As of October 15, 2023, more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, and as of October 21, 2023, Israel confirms that 210 hostages are still being held by Hamas. At the same time, 4,137 people have been killed in Gaza. It should be noted that the number of people who left their homes in Gaza amounts to 1.4 million, out of the 2.2 million people living in the Gaza Strip.
This terrorist group has regained greater prominence globally. In a previous article, I discussed why the attack is happening at this time. However, there is a question to understand the conflict, what is Hamas?
Hamas is a Sunni Islamist and nationalist political and military group (mind you - not the internationally recognized Palestinian actor) that has a presence in the Gaza Strip. Hamas originated from Ahmed Yassin's organization, Mujama al-Islamiya, established in Gaza in 1973 as a religious charity related to the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood.
Hamas is considered a terrorist group by: Israel, the U.S., the EU, Australia, Canada, Japan, Paraguay, the U.K. and the Organization of American States, as of the late 1990s.
The origin of Hamas dates back to the early days of the 1st Palestinian Intifada of 1987 against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and was founded by cleric Ahmed Yassin. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin had launched a network of charities, clinics and schools in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamas' founding charter of 1988, with 36 articles outlining the identity and objectives of this movement, called for the destruction of every Jewish vestige in the Middle East. It also defined the historic Palestinian territories - including present-day Israel - as Islamic land and excluded any permanent peace with the Jewish state.
In May 2017, for the first time since its founding, the terrorist group published a new policy document in which it declared its willingness to accept an interim Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, but without recognizing Israel.
During the 1990s, Hamas would gain prominence within Palestine for its resistance and uprising against the recognition of the state of Israel. Within Hamas there is a military branch, the Izz ad-Din al Qassam Brigades, which has operated since 1992 and is led by Mohammed Deif.
This branch was instrumental in multiple bus bombings between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, killing dozens of Israelis, and intensified its attacks on civilians and military personnel after Israel killed its chief bomb-maker, Yahya Ayyash, in December 1995.
Yasser Arafat, leader of the PLO and the Fatah party (nationalist and secular), was reluctant to pursue Hamas attackers and may not have had adequate means to do so. In 1999, Hamas was banned in Jordan, apparently in part at the request of the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
At the same time, as time went on, the struggle between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas was brewing. In 1994, the PLO and Israel signed the Oslo Accords, which represented the majority of Palestinians. However, Hamas opposed the agreements.
Hamas continued to gain power and influence in the following years as Israel cracked down on the Palestinian Authority. Hamas organized clinics and schools, serving Palestinians who were disappointed with the Palestinian Authority administration, led by the Fatah political movement. These actions have allowed Hamas to become more involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and advocated for Palestinian armed resistance.
The increased Palestinian discontent during the Oslo peace process, as the reality on the ground did not match the expectations created by the peace agreements, would be one of the reasons for the 2nd Intifada and the increased Palestinian popular support for Hamas, increasing by 17%.
The Second Intifada was a wave of violence that began on September 29, 2000 in Palestine and Israel. It was triggered by the visit of Ariel Sharon, leader of the Likud party, to the Temple Mount compound and the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. During this period, there were intense clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.
Hamas and other militant groups carried out military attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli civilian and military targets. In the following years, nearly 5,000 Palestinians and more than 1,100 Israelis were killed. Although there were a large number of Palestinian attacks against Israelis, the most effective form of violence by Palestinians was suicide bombings. During the first five years of the intifada, more than half of the Israeli casualties were victims of suicide bombings, and approximately 40% of these attacks were carried out by Hamas.
In January 2004, Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin proposed a 10-year ceasefire in exchange for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. However, Israel responded by assassinating Yassin in a targeted air strike and his successor al-Rantisi in a similar attack.
In November of the same year, Yasser Arafat, historic leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization and later of Fatah, died. After Arafat's death, Mahmoud Abbas took the reins of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas saw Hamas' war tactics as counterproductive. In 2005, Israel withdrew its troops and settlements from Gaza.
Shortly after this withdrawal, the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections were held, and Hamas for the first time participated in them. Hamas won 76 seats and Fatah only 43. Hamas took over the administration of Gaza after its electoral victory, and during 2006-2007, a coalition government was formed between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza.
Following a civil war between Hamas and Fatah militants in May 2007, Hamas came to de facto rule the Gaza Strip after ousting Fatah. Since then, Gaza has been under Hamas administrative control and governed by Hamas terrorist group leader Ismail Haniya (currently residing in Qatar); while the West Bank is under Fatah control. Israel, together with Egypt, has maintained a land, air and sea blockade of the Strip since 2007 to isolate Hamas and pressure them to stop their attacks.
This blockade limits the import of food, fuel and construction materials; limits how far Gaza's fishermen can go out to sea; bans almost all exports; and imposes strict limitations on the entry and exit of people from Gaza.
Over time, both Palestinian factions have attempted to reconcile, as in the 2007 Mecca agreements to form a coalition government, or those of 2011, 2014 and 2017. However, all attempts have been unsuccessful.
During Hamas' years in power, human rights and freedoms have been restricted, especially: for women, homosexuals and minorities.
According to a report by the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights published on April 23, 2019, a "fact sheet" (information submitted was collected between March 1, 2018 and March 1, 2019) on violations of people's rights to peacefully assemble, express opinions and not to be subjected to arbitrary detention in the Gaza Strip. During the 2019 protests, 742 people were arrested and detained, even higher numbers.
Human Rights Watch has reported that both the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip detain and torture peaceful opponents and critics, with each side targeting supporters of the other.
Early marriage is a persistent problem. About 15% of married women in Gaza were sexually abused by their husbands in 2022. In turn, homosexual relations between men is forbidden.
According to the latest statistics published by the Latin Monastery Church in Gaza, in 2022 the Christian population of the Gaza Strip numbered about 1,100, along with more than two million Muslims. This is a large decrease from the mid-1990s, when there were about 5,000.
On the economic level, the Israeli and Egyptian blockade and Hamas' abysmal internal management have destroyed the Gazan economy. It is worth mentioning that, according to the UN, more than 80% of Palestinians in Gaza live in poverty. At the same time, the unemployment rate before the latest fighting in 2023 was 46%, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Also according to IMF estimates, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.
Moreover, according to the IMF, Gaza had fallen far behind the West Bank over the past 15 years, mainly due to years of isolation and repeated conflicts after Hamas came to power in 2007, with 77% of households receiving aid, mainly cash or food.
The war against Israel has legitimized Hamas' role in Palestinian society. Israel has launched four major military strikes against Gaza - in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021 - to destroy Hamas' military capability. It should be mentioned that after the 2008 Gaza conflict, support for Hamas increased significantly among Palestinian society in general compared to non-conflict periods, especially in Gaza.
However, in 2019, demonstrations over high food prices and lack of employment followed. These protests brought hundreds of Gazans out onto the streets of urban centers and refugee camps. They were of a scale and intensity not seen before under Hamas' iron-fisted rule.These demonstrations were brutally suppressed.
Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. counterterrorism official, estimated that most of Hamas' budget of more than $300 million came from corporate taxes, as well as from countries such as Iran and Qatar or from charities.
According to the World Bank report, Gaza's economy has been kept afloat by large amounts of foreign aid and remittances.
The Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been the largest providers of non-trade-related funding, totaling more than $2.3 billion in 2014, while about $500 million from informal sources flowed to Hamas.
The Palestinian Authority alone transfers about $1.2 billion a year to Gaza banks, much of it in the form of pensions and salaries for the 77,000 employees who remain on the payroll even though they are not working. According to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, 54 percent of the Palestinian Authority's $3.17 billion budget for 2010 went to Gaza.
Most of that figure appears to be salaries also covers what the PA pays directly for electricity, fuel and water supplied to Gaza by Israeli companies.
It is important to clarify that the Gaza Strip's only natural source of water is the coastal aquifer basin, which runs along the eastern Mediterranean coast from the northern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, through Gaza and into Israel. This aquifer is also contaminated by untreated sewage, rendering 96.2% of the aquifer's domestic water undrinkable.
Also, the Gazan power grid relies on three sources to supply the population: they include 120 megawatts from the Israeli power company, 60 megawatts from Gaza's fuel-dependent power plant, and 30 megawatts from Egypt, but the lines on the Egyptian side have been disconnected since February 2018.
By 2022, Hamas had established a secret network of companies managing $500 million worth of investments in companies from Turkey to Saudi Arabia. This past February, the U.S. State Department claimed that Hamas raises funds in other Gulf countries and obtains donations from Palestinians, other expatriates and its own charities.
Hamas has lost weight and support within the Palestinian population, especially in the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, there have been recent protests and alternative militias, which are strongly repressed. This attack would allow to regain internal weight and humiliate Israel. Also, this strike is another test of whether the Arab states continue to move closer to Israel or freeze this process, keeping the Palestinian cause on the international chessboard.
Time will tell if this attack could be the end of Hamas, altering the geopolitics of the Middle East and other regions.
Comentarios