PROGRES.ID – The Middle East region is once again in the international spotlight due to the escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group known as Hamas. The conflict has intensified following the attack launched by Hamas on Israeli territory on Saturday, October 7, 2023.
As of now, the conflict has resulted in more than 1,100 casualties. Israeli forces continue to launch attacks on the Gaza Strip, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a military operation named “Operation Iron Sword” in response to Hamas’s attacks.
Hamas is a political group that governs the Gaza Strip, an area of approximately 365 square kilometers inhabited by around 2.3 million Palestinian residents. Gaza has long been under blockade by Israel. Hamas itself is an acronym for the “Islamic Resistance Movement” and in Arabic means “zeal.”
Hamas has been in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, after defeating Fatah forces that supported President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a brief conflict.
The Hamas movement was initially founded in Gaza in 1987 by an Imam named Sheikh Ahmed Yasin and his associate, Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi. This happened shortly after the start of the First Intifada, which was a rebellion against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
Initially, Hamas was an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Egypt and formed a military wing known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The main goal of this group is to engage in armed struggle against Israel with the aim of liberating Palestine. They also offer social welfare programs to Palestinians suffering due to Israel’s occupation.
In principle, Hamas does not recognize the state of Israel, in contrast to the PLO, which has acknowledged the existence of the Jewish state. Hamas supports the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
Khaled Meshaal, the leader of the Palestinian group who was in exile in 2017, declared, “We will not relinquish one inch of Palestinian land, regardless of the current pressures and the duration of the occupation,” as reported by CNBC Indonesia.
Hamas also strongly opposes the Oslo Peace Accords agreed upon between Israel and the PLO in the mid-1990s. The group is officially committed to establishing a Palestinian state within its own territory.
