What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza? – Canada Boosts

Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, killing 1,200 folks and taking about 240 hostages.

The Israeli army responded with air strikes on Gaza, and launched a floor offensive. Greater than 15,800 folks have been killed in Gaza, in line with the Hamas-run authorities.

Combating has resumed following the tip of a seven-day truce, throughout which Hamas launched greater than 100 hostages in change for 240 Palestinians.

Israel Protection Forces (IDF) warplanes have been finishing up strikes throughout Gaza whereas its troops moved by the north of the territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Israel has a “clear goal of destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities”, in addition to releasing the hostages.

He additionally declared that Israel would have “overall security responsibility” for the Gaza Strip “for an indefinite period” after the battle. Israel later stated it has no plans to reoccupy the territory.

Israel has drafted 300,000 reservists for the operation, to spice up its standing drive of 160,000.

The IDF says it has struck 1000’s of targets belonging to Hamas – which Israel, the UK, US and different Western powers class as a terrorist organisation.

It additionally says it has destroyed a whole lot of tunnel shafts constructed beneath Gaza. Hamas has claimed that its tunnel community stretches for 500km (310 miles).

Various hospitals within the north had been caught up in intense combating, together with the Jabalia refugee camp.

Because the short-term ceasefire ended, Israeli troops have pushed into southern Gaza, and have taken “aggressive” motion towards Hamas and different armed teams across the metropolis of Khan Younis.

Israel claims to have killed 1000’s of Hamas fighters in the course of the warfare, together with many commanders. Greater than 390 Israeli troopers have been killed, most of them within the 7 October assault.

The IDF says 75 Israeli troops have been killed in Gaza for the reason that battle started.

In the course of the 7 October assaults, Hamas took about 240 hostages, which it stated had been hidden in “safe places and tunnels” inside Gaza.

Israel stated greater than 30 of the hostages had been youngsters, and that not less than 10 had been aged over 60. It additionally stated about half of the hostages had international passports from 25 completely different international locations.

Underneath a deal brokered by Qatar, a pause within the combating started on Friday 24 November.

In the course of the seven-day truce, 105 hostages had been freed, in return for 240 Palestinians who had been held in Israeli jails and detention.

Hamas launched 4 Israeli hostages earlier than the truce settlement was made, and one other hostage was freed by Israeli forces.

Hamas has stated different armed teams in Gaza are holding hostages, together with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which might complicate any future releases.

The UN has warned that “an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold” within the Gaza Strip, and that its humanitarian operations might not be capable of reply.

Greater than 36,000 folks have been wounded in Gaza for the reason that begin of the warfare, in line with the Hamas-run authorities. It says three quarters of them are youngsters and girls.

Few of Gaza’s hospitals are nonetheless operational on account of harm attributable to assaults and the dearth of electrical energy and gas.

Mr Netanyahu has admitted that Israel has been “not successful” in minimising civilian casualties, however insisted it is because Hamas makes use of Gaza’s inhabitants as human shields.

This consists of the a whole lot of 1000’s of people that fled the combating within the north after an Israeli ultimatum to maneuver south of a river referred to as Wadi Gaza for their very own security.

Israel’s army subsequently revealed a map with Gaza cut up into grids, exhibiting areas the place folks ought to go to for security.

However the BBC’s worldwide editor Jeremy Bowen stated the map is difficult, consists of conflicting info, and requires a smartphone for entry.

The town has been internet hosting a whole lot of 1000’s of residents who moved to flee the combating within the north. Many displaced individuals are sheltering in locations resembling the town’s hospitals.

After the 7 October assault, Israel shut its border crossings with Gaza, stopping the same old provides of meals, water, gas and medication from coming into the territory.

Israel obstructed all gas deliveries till late November, arguing it may very well be stolen by Hamas and used for army functions.

With out electrical energy or gas for turbines, hospitals, water pumps and desalination crops, waste and sanitation providers, and bakeries have been unable to perform.

Israel allowed 1,399 lorry a great deal of humanitarian provides to enter by way of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing between 21 October and 21 November, in contrast with a month-to-month common of 10,000 earlier than the warfare, in line with the UN.

In the course of the truce, a whole lot of lorries carrying help and gas had been allowed to enter Gaza by the Rafah crossing – the one functioning passage out and in of Gaza. However it has been very tough to get items into the north.

Tons of of international passport holders – together with some British and US residents – and critically wounded and sick Palestinians have additionally been allowed to depart, however many stay. The Rafah crossing stays tightly managed by Egypt.

On 7 October, a whole lot of Hamas gunmen crossed from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, breaking by the closely guarded perimeter fence, touchdown by sea, and utilizing paragliders.

The gunmen killed about 1,200 folks, most of them civilians, in a collection of raids on army posts, kibbutzim and a music competition, and took hostages again into Gaza.

Earlier estimates put the loss of life toll at greater than 1,400.

The assault got here at a time of hovering Israeli-Palestinian tensions: 2023 has been the deadliest on file for Palestinians who reside within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution.

Hamas is a Palestinian group which has run Gaza since 2007.

The identify is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, which suggests Islamic Resistance Motion.

The group needs to destroy Israel and substitute it with an Islamic state.

Its army wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, is believed to have about 30,000 members.

Hamas has fought a number of wars with Israel because it took energy, firing 1000’s of rockets into Israel and finishing up different lethal assaults.

In response, Israel has repeatedly attacked Hamas with air strikes, sending in troops in 2008 and 2014.

Hamas – or in some circumstances the al-Qassam Brigades – has been designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the EU and the UK, in addition to different powers.

Iran backs the group, offering funding, weapons and coaching.

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

Israel withdrew its troops and round 7,000 settlers from the territory in 2005.

House to2.2 million folks, the slender strip is likely one of the most densely-populated areas on the earth.

Simply over three-quarters of Gaza’s inhabitants – some 1.7 million folks – are registered refugees or descendants of refugees, in line with the UN.

Earlier than the newest battle, greater than 500,000 folks lived in eight refugee camps situated throughout the Strip.

Israel controls the air area over Gaza and its shoreline, and strictly limits the motion of individuals and items.

The West Financial institution and Gaza are referred to as the Palestinian territories. Together with East Jerusalem and Israel, they shaped a part of a land referred to as Palestine from Roman occasions till the mid-Twentieth Century.

In 1948, part of Palestine became Israel, which was recognised by the United Nations the next yr. The West Financial institution (together with East Jerusalem) and Gaza are recognised as Palestine by many international locations and our bodies, though it doesn’t have member standing on the UN.

Those that don’t recognise Israel’s proper to exist additionally nonetheless confer with all the land as Palestine.

He has been the chief of the Palestinian Authority (PA) since 2005, and represents the Fatah political occasion – a bitter rival of Hamas.