The Associated Press
- Hamas launched unprecedented attacks on Israel by air, land, and sea on Saturday.
- The militant group has ruled the tiny Gaza Strip since winning local elections in 2006.
- The US designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Hamas, a Palestinian political and military organization that governs the Gaza Strip, launched a wave of unprecedented attacks on Israel on Saturday.
At least 70 people in Israel have so far been killed and more than 900 injured since the attacks began, the Israeli authorities said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Saturday that Israel was in a "state of war" and promised an "unprecedented" retaliation.
That retaliation has already begun. Israeli air strikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip leveled a high-rise apartment building on Saturday. And the Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 200 Palestinians have so far been killed.
What is Hamas?
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union due to repeated armed attacks inside Israel by means of suicide bombings and rocket attacks, among other methods.
"Hamas" is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya. It was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian religious leader who became an activist in the Muslim Brotherhood. Yassin created Hamas as the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm in Gaza in 1987, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank.
Hamas published a charter in 1988 that included a call to "obliterate" the state of Israel and to install a new Islamic society. The charter was amended in 2017, although the new policy still does not recognize Israel as a state.
The United States first designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, according to the US State Department. The organization has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006 after beating its rival political party, Fatah, in local elections.
Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Israel instituted a blockade of the small sliver of land that has now lasted for 16 years. The blockade restricts the flow of goods into the Palestinian territory and has caused shortages of everything from food to medicine. It also largely restricts Palestinians from leaving Gaza. The blockade has devastated the local economy. Half the population of Gaza is unemployed, presenting fertile recruitment for Hamas military forces.
The surprise attack on Saturday was the deadliest since 2014, when the murder of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas sparked a seven-week retaliation from Israel. The violence caused the deaths of about 2,100 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Dozens of Israelis — most of them soldiers — were also killed.
In May 2021, tensions in Jerusalem led to more violence, during which Hamas launched about 1,600 rockets into Israel.
During this attack, Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defense system intercepted about 90% of the projectiles fired into the country, the Israeli Defense Forces said at the time. The defense system uses its own rockets to destroy incoming missiles before they have a chance to land, Insider previously reported.
The United States and Egypt helped to negotiate a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel after less than two weeks.
President Joe Biden said at the time that the United States would provide aid to Gaza to help with reconstruction after the fighting. He added that the United States would partner with the Palestinian Authority "in a manner that does not permit Hamas to simply restock its military arsenal."
The United States has provided significant military aid to Israel since the 1990s. In 2019, the United States increased that aid to about $3.8 billion annually.