Israel War: What is Hamas?

What is Hamas?

Hamas is a Palestinian militant group which rules the Gaza Strip. Its name is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or "Islamic Resistance Movement", and means "zeal" in Arabic.

The group is sworn to Israel's destruction and wants to replace it with an Islamic state.

Hamas has fought several wars with Israel since it took power in Gaza in 2007.

It has fired - or allowed other militant groups to fire - thousands of rockets at Israel, and carried out other deadly attacks.

Israel has repeatedly attacked Hamas with air strikes in response, and sent troops into Gaza during two of the wars. Together with Egypt, it has blockaded the Gaza Strip since 2007 for what it describes as security reasons.

Hamas - or in some cases its military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades - has been designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union and the UK, as well as other powers.

Iran backs the group, providing it with funding, weapons and training.

• Hamas explained

What is the Gaza Strip and why is it important?

The Gaza Strip is a 41km (25-mile) long and 10km-wide territory located between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

Originally occupied by Egypt, Gaza was captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel withdrew its troops and around 7,000 settlers from the area in 2005.

It is currently home to about 2.3 million people, and has one of the densest populations in the world.

Israel controls the air space over Gaza and its shoreline, and strictly controls the movement of people and goods through its border crossings.

Similarly, Egypt controls who passes in and out through its border with Gaza.

About 80% of the population of Gaza depends on international aid, according to the UN, and about one million people rely on daily food aid.

After Hamas's unprecedented attack, Israel announced a "siege" of Gaza - cutting its supplies of electricity, fuel, food, goods and water.

Mains electricity has gone out in Gaza, after its one power station ran out of fuel. Without electricity, Gaza's water and sewage systems are also expected to shut down.

People in Gaza will have to rely on generators for electricity - if they have the fuel to run them.

• Nowhere safe in Gaza as Israeli strikes intensify

Media caption,

Watch: Hiding at home, blinded and choked by dust - a video diary from Gaza

What is Palestine?

The West Bank and Gaza, which are known as the Palestinian territories, as well as East Jerusalem and Israel all formed part of a land known as Palestine from Roman times until the mid-20th Century.

These were also the lands of Jewish kingdoms in the Bible, and are seen by many Jews as their ancient homeland.

Israel was declared a state in 1948, though the land is still referred to as Palestine by those who do not recognise Israel's right to exist.

Palestinians also use the name Palestine as an umbrella term for the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

• Israel's borders explained in maps
• The Israel-Palestinian conflict explained

Why did Hamas launch its latest attack?

Although the attack by the militants on 7 October was unexpected, it came at a time of soaring Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

This year has been the deadliest on record for Palestinians who live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which could have motivated Hamas to strike Israel with a spectacular attack.

Hamas might also have been seeking to score a significant propaganda victory against Israel to boost its popularity among ordinary Palestinians.

The fact that it has taken so many Israeli hostages captive is thought to be designed to pressure Israel to free some of the estimated 4,500 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons - a highly emotive issue for all Palestinians.

There is also speculation that the attack was orchestrated by Iran - Israel's arch-foe - though Iran's Supreme Leader has denied his country's involvement.

Iran and Hamas also staunchly oppose the growing prospect of an historic peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

This might be thwarted if Israel's military response to the Hamas attacks provokes widespread anger in the Arab world.

• How Hamas' shock attack unfolded
• Who are the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel?

How does this compare to previous Hamas attacks?

The BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen says this is the most ambitious operation Hamas has ever launched from Gaza, and the most serious cross-border attack Israel has faced in more than a generation.

Militants breached the wire that separates Gaza from Israel in multiple places.

Details of a massacre in one Israeli community, Kibbutz Kfar Aza, have emerged - with an Israeli general speaking of babies killed. Israeli soldiers told Jeremy Bowen that some of the dead had been beheaded.

IMAGE SOURCE,OREN ROSENFELD

Image caption,

Homes in the kibbutz have been completely destroyed

Since the latest attack began, the death toll in Israel has reached 1,200 - while more than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

Why wasn't the attack foreseen by Israeli intelligence?

Given the combined resources of the Shin Bet, Israeli domestic security services, its external spy agency Mossad, and all the assets of the Israel Defense Forces, the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner says it is astounding that nobody saw this coming or failed to act on it if they did have a warning.

Israel has arguably the most extensive and well-funded intelligence services in the Middle East, with informants and agents inside Palestinian militant groups, as well as in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere.

The border fence between Gaza and Israel has cameras, ground-motion sensors and regular army patrols.

The barbed-wire topped fence is supposed to have been a "smart barrier" to prevent exactly the sort of infiltration that has taken place in this attack.

But Hamas militants simply bulldozed their way through it, cut holes in the wire or entered Israel from the sea and by paraglider.

How is the US involved?

America is Israel's closest ally, and successive administrations have declared the US' "iron-clad" commitment to Israel's security.

In the wake of the Hamas attack, the US announced it was moving an aircraft carrier, ships and jets to the eastern Mediterranean, and that it would also give Israel additional equipment and ammunition.

As well as a show of support towards Israel, the move could be a warning to the powerful Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah - an enemy of Israel and supporter of Hamas - not to attack Israel.

At least 14 US citizens - along with victims from about 16 countries, excluding Israel - have been killed in the Hamas attack. A number of US citizens are also among the dozens of people being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

What happened in 1973, and why are people comparing it to Hamas' latest attack?

Some are comparing the Hamas attack with what Israelis refer to as the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Almost exactly 50 years ago, Israel was caught in a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

The Arab forces made significant advances before Israel's were able to repel them.

In the war, 2,656 Israeli soldiers were killed, and thousands more were wounded. On the Arab side, some 18,000 were killed and tens of thousands were wounded.

The fact that Israel was caught off-guard and suffered so many casualties made a deep impact on the Israeli psyche, and its subsequent focus on military preparedness convinced Israelis that such an event could never happen again.

How might Israel and the Arab world respond?

Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif has called on Palestinians and other Arabs to join the militants' operation to "sweep away the [Israeli] occupation".

It is not clear whether Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem or elsewhere in the region will heed his call, according to the BBC's Jerusalem correspondent Yolande Knell.

Israel undoubtedly sees the potential for a war that could open up on multiple fronts.

One worst case scenario would see the involvement of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

Since the attack, the Iran-backed militant group has launched a number of missiles and shells at northern Israel. Israeli forces have responded by attacking Hezbollah positions and other infrastructure.

The Israeli military has ordered a massive reinforcement of troops and is expected to launch a ground offensive on the Gaza Strip soon.

It says 300,000 personnel including recently-mobilised reservists are near the Gaza border "ready to execute the mission we have been given".

Mobhad: Bella Shmurda Tribute

 Nigerian singer Bella Shmurda has released a new song titled “My Brother” in tribute to his late friend and collaborator, Mohbad. The song is a heartfelt and emotional ballad, with Shmurda singing about the pain of losing a close friend.

The song’s music video is also a tribute to Mohbad, with Shmurda visiting places that were special to their friendship. The video is a moving and fitting tribute to a talented artist who was gone too soon.

Watch the Video

Israel War: things will change forever...

“Things will change forever,” said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv. There is nothing in Israeli history that compares to this attack, he said.

“Hamas will no longer be Hamas that we knew years ago,” Michael, who previously served as the deputy director general and head of the Palestinian desk at Israel’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs, told CNN.

Hamas said the attack was retribution for what it described as attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza.

Here’s what we know about the group:

What is Hamas?

An Islamist organization with a military wing, Hamas first came into being in 1987. It was an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group that was founded in the late 1920s in Egypt.

The word “Hamas” is itself an acronym for “Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamiyya” – Arabic for Islamic Resistance Movement. The group, like most Palestinian factions and political parties, insists that Israel is an occupying power and that it is trying to liberate the Palestinian territories. It considers Israel an illegitimate state.

Unlike some other Palestinian factions, Hamas refuses to engage with Israel. In 1993, it opposed the Oslo Accords, a peace pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that saw the PLO give up armed resistance against Israel in return for promises of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The Accords also established the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Daniel Regha accuses Naira Marley, calls him a Murderer

Benin, Togo, 6 other Francophone West African countries dump CFA, adopt new currency

The CFA franc was initially pegged to the French franc and has been linked to the euro for about two decades.

Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo currently use the CFA.

All of these African countries are former French colonies with the exception of Guinea-Bissau.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, speaking in the country’s economic capital Abidjan, announced “three major changes”.

He said apart from the change of name of the currency, the changes also included “stopping holding 50 per cent of the reserves in the French Treasury” and the “withdrawal of French governance” in any aspect related to the currency.

The CFA franc’s value was moored to the euro after its introduction two decades ago, at a fixed rate of 655.96 CFA francs to one euro.

The Bank of France holds half of the currency’s total reserves, but France does not make money on its deposits stewardship, annually paying a ceiling interest rate of 0.75 per cent to member states.

The arrangement guarantees unlimited convertibility of CFA francs into euros and facilitates inter-zone transfers.

CFA notes and coins are printed and minted at a Bank of France facility in the southern town of Chamalieres.

The CFA franc, created in 1945, was seen by many as a sign of French interference in its former African colonies even after the countries became independent.

Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc (ECOWAS) has urged members to push on with efforts to establish a common currency, optimistically slated to launch next year.

The bloc insists it is aiming to have the Eco in place in 2020, but almost none of the 15 countries in the group currently meet criteria to join.

ECOWAS “urges member states to continue efforts to meet the convergence criteria”, commission chief Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said after a summit of regional leaders in Abuja on Saturday.

The key demands for entry are to have a deficit of less than 3 per cent of gross domestic product, inflation of 10 per cent or under and debts worth less than 70 per cent of GDP.

Economists say they understand the thinking behind the African countries’ currency plan but believe it is unrealistic and could even be dangerous for the region’s economies which are dominated by one single country, Nigeria, which accounts for two-thirds of the region’s economic output.

Nigeria’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed told AFP “there’s still more work that we need to do individually to meet the convergence criteria”.

ECOWAS was set up in 1975 and comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo — representing a total population of around 385 million.

Eight of them currently use the CFA franc, moored to the single European currency and gathered in an organisation called the West African Monetary Union, or WAMU.

Israel and Palestine War

What is the Israel-Palestine conflict about? A simple guide by Fatai Olaitan Moshood 

It’s killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. And its future lies in its past. We break it down.

Israel-Palestine conflict

What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about? A simple guide

It’s killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. And its future lies in its past. We break it down.

Palestinians carry their possessions on their heads as they flee from a village in Galilee about five months after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 [File: Reuters]

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced many millions of people and has its roots in a colonial act carried out more than a century ago.

With Israel declaring war on the Gaza Strip after an unprecedented attack by the armed Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday, the world’s eyes are again sharply focused on what might come next.

Hamas fighters have killed more than 800 Israelis in assaults on multiple towns in southern Israel. In response, Israel has launched a bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 500 Palestinians. It has mobilised troops along the Gaza border, apparently in preparation for a ground attack. And on Monday, it announced a “total blockade” of the Gaza Strip, stopping the supply of food, fuel and other essential commodities to the already besieged enclave in an act that under international law amounts to a war crimes.

What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about? A simple guide

It’s killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. And its future lies in its past. We break it down.

Palestinians carry their possessions on their heads as they flee from a village in Galilee about five months after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 [File: Reuters]

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced many millions of people and has its roots in a colonial act carried out more than a century ago.

With Israel declaring war on the Gaza Strip after an unprecedented attack by the armed Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday, the world’s eyes are again sharply focused on what might come next.

Hamas fighters have killed more than 800 Israelis in assaults on multiple towns in southern Israel. In response, Israel has launched a bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 500 Palestinians. It has mobilised troops along the Gaza border, apparently in preparation for a ground attack. And on Monday, it announced a “total blockade” of the Gaza Strip, stopping the supply of food, fuel and other essential commodities to the already besieged enclave in an act that under international law amounts to a war crimes

But what unfolds in the coming days and weeks has its seed in history.

For decades, Western media outlets, academics, military experts and world leaders have described the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as intractable, complicated and deadlocked.

Here’s a simple guide to break down one of the world’s longest-running conflicts:

What was the Balfour Declaration?

• More than 100 years ago, on November 2, 1917, Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, wrote a letter addressed to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a figurehead of the British Jewish community.
• The letter was short – just 67 words – but its contents had a seismic effect on Palestine that is still felt to this day.
• It committed the British government to “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” and to facilitating “the achievement of this object”. The letter is known as the Balfour Declaration.
• In essence, a European power promised the Zionist movement a country where Palestinian Arab natives made up more than 90 percent of the population.
• A British Mandate was created in 1923 and lasted until 1948. During that period, the British facilitated mass Jewish immigration – many of the new residents were fleeing Nazism in Europe – and they also faced protests and strikes. Palestinians were alarmed by their country’s changing demographics and British confiscation of their lands to be handed over to Jewish settlers.

What happened during the 1930s?

• Escalating tensions eventually led to the Arab Revolt, which lasted from 1936 to 1939.
• In April 1936, the newly formed Arab National Committee called on Palestinians to launch a general strike, withhold tax payments and boycott Jewish products to protest British colonialism and growing Jewish immigration.
• The six-month strike was brutally repressed by the British, who launched a mass arrest campaign and carried out punitive home demolitions, a practice that Israel continues to implement against Palestinians today.
• The second phase of the revolt began in late 1937 and was led by the Palestinian peasant resistance movement, which targeted British forces and colonialism.
• By the second half of 1939, Britain had massed 30,000 troops in Palestine. Villages were bombed by air, curfews imposed, homes demolished, and administrative detentions and summary killings were widespread.
• In tandem, the British collaborated with the Jewish settler community and formed armed groups and a British-led “counterinsurgency force” of Jewish fighters named the Special Night Squads.
• Within the Yishuv, the pre-state settler community, arms were secretly imported and weapons factories established to expand the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary that later became the core of the Israeli army.
• In those three years of revolt, 5,000 Palestinians were killed, 15,000 to 20,000 were wounded and 5,600 were imprisoned.

What was the UN partition plan?

• By 1947, the Jewish population had ballooned to 33 percent of Palestine, but they owned only 6 percent of the land.
• The United Nations adopted Resolution 181, which called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.
• The Palestinians rejected the plan because it allotted about 56 percent of Palestine to the Jewish state, including most of the fertile coastal region.
• At the time, the Palestinians owned 94 percent of historic Palestine and comprised 67 percent of its population.

The 1948 Nakba, or the ethnic cleansing of Palestine

• Even before the British Mandate expired on May 14, 1948, Zionist paramilitaries were already embarking on a military operation to destroy Palestinian towns and villages to expand the borders of the Zionist state that was to be born.
• In April 1948, more than 100 Palestinian men, women and children were killed in the village of Deir Yassin on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
• That set the tone for the rest of the operation, and from 1947 to 1949, more than 500 Palestinian villages, towns and cities were destroyed in what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic.
• An estimated 15,000 Palestinians were killed, including in dozens of massacres.
• The Zionist movement captured 78 percent of historic Palestine. The remaining 22 percent was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.
• An estimated 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes.
• Today their descendants live as six million refugees in 58 squalid camps throughout Palestine and in the neighbouring countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
• On May 15, 1948, Israel announced its establishment.
• The following day, the first Arab-Israeli war began and fighting ended in January 1949 after an armistice between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
• In December 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194, which calls for the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

(Al Jazeera)

The years after the Nakba

• At least 150,000 Palestinians remained in the newly created state of Israel and lived under a tightly controlled military occupation for almost 20 years before they were eventually granted Israeli citizenship.
• Egypt took over the Gaza Strip, and in 1950, Jordan began its administrative rule over the West Bank.
• In 1964, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was formed, and a year later, the Fatah political party was established.

The Naksa, or the Six-Day War and the settlements

• On June 5, 1967, Israel occupied the rest of historic Palestine, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula during the Six-Day War against a coalition of Arab armies.
• For some Palestinians, this led to a second forced displacement, or Naksa, which means “setback” in Arabic.
• In December 1967, the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was formed. Over the next decade, a series of attacks and plane hijackings by leftist groups drew the world’s attention to the plight of the Palestinians.
• Settlement construction began in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. A two-tier system was created with Jewish settlers afforded all the rights and privileges of being Israeli citizens whereas Palestinians had to live under a military occupation that discriminated against them and barred any form of political or civic expression.