Israel fell victim on Saturday to a coordinated attack by air, land and sea carried out by Hamas terrorists operating from the West Bank of Gaza, where a large proportion of the population is Palestinian.
The surprise attack, which included rocket attacks on nearby villages in Israel, killed more than 800 Israelis and wounded nearly 2,200. About 100 other people have been taken hostage by the Iranian-backed extremists.
The attack, the largest of its kind in the past 50 years, prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare war on Hamas. The Jewish state’s counterattack killed 370 Palestinians and injured about 2,000 and threatened a full-scale ground invasion.
The territory of the area has been disputed since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Hamas is both a Muslim fundamentalist military organization and a political organization, which is considered to have the greatest power within the Palestinian National Authority.
The weekend violence also claimed the lives of at least nine Americans, further prompting US officials to pledge strong support for Israel.
The Hamas terrorist group launched an attack on Israel on Saturday, killing more than 700 people.Getty Images
What is Hamas?
Hamas, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a group that rules Gaza, a 40-kilometer-long strip of land along the Mediterranean with a population of more than two million people, and the West Bank, a larger area that has both Palestinians and Palestinians. and Israeli settlements, but is under Israeli military occupation.
The group was born as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987 and was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian living in Gaza.
Hamas strongly opposes Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and aims to create its own Palestinian state, something it has always said it would do through violence.
The group has repeatedly used terrorist tactics against Israelis, including mass murders, rocket attacks, suicide bombings and kidnappings.
Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections, but in 2007 it took the Gaza Strip by force and has been in control of the area ever since, having seized it from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
Hamas was finally listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and other Western states in 1997.
Hamas is led by Ismail Haniya, who operates from his ally Qatar. AFP via Getty Images
Why is Hamas attacking Israel?
Hamas, since its inception, has opposed Israel, and the terrorist group’s leadership has promised the elimination of the Jewish state and the creation of an Islamic state in its place.
While the group has a history of attacks on Israel, the latest violence over the weekend was on a scale larger than anything seen in decades. The military activity, which had been planned and approved by Iran’s leaders, according to the Wall Street Journal, was called Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
The reason given by Hamas for launching the action was “in defense of the Aqsa Mosque”, an important Muslim holy site in Jerusalem, which it claimed Israel had allowed Jewish groups to “desecrate” prayers at the site.
In addition to the senseless killings, Hamas forces also kidnapped more than 100 people in Israel. AFP via Getty Images
He also cited the prolonged Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has continued since 2007, and Israeli violence against Palestinians as reasons for the terrorist attack.
As of September, 227 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in 2023, which exceeds the total for 2022 and was much higher than the 29 Israeli deaths suffered up to that point, according to the United Nations.
On Sunday, Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, claimed that the terrorist group had taken enough Israeli soldiers and civilian hostages during Saturday’s shock attack to exchange them for all the Palestinian prisoners in the country’s jails. , which is said to be 5,200.
In response to Hamas’ actions, the Israel Defense Forces have called up thousands of reserve troops and amassed them on the West Bank border and are prepared to launch their own ground operation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered all civilians in the area to leave because the Israeli army would turn “all Hamas hideouts” into rubble.
Hamas has many supporters among the population of 2 million living in Gaza. AFP via Getty Images
Who finances Hamas?
While Hamas is recognized as a terrorist group by several nations around the world, it has several supporters throughout the Muslim world who support its fight against Israel.
Hamas is primarily backed by Iran, Israel’s archenemy, which provides funding for weapons and training. The terrorist group has also received funding from Qatar, which also provides safe haven to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Iran, Qatar and Syria have criticized Israel’s recent actions in the West Bank and claimed that the Jewish state brought on Saturday’s violence.
Hamas receives funding for its weapons and training through Iran, a long-time enemy of Israel. AFP via Getty Images
Hamas also receives help from Hezbollah, another Islamist extremist group and political party operating in Lebanon. Hezbollah has also launched its own attacks against Israelis near the country’s northern border “in solidarity” with the terrorists.
“Our hearts are with you. Our minds are with you. Our souls are with you. Our history, our weapons and our rockets are with you,” Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine told Hamas on Sunday.
Israel responded with its own rocket fire and Hezbollah later confirmed that three of its members had been killed.
Why are Israel and Hamas fighting?
The main conflict driving the bloody war between Israel and Hamas is that both groups claim the right to Jerusalem, the holy land worshiped by the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions.
The site is home to the Temple Mount, the biblical site where Abraham is said to have offered to sacrifice his son as proof of his ultimate devotion to God.
Hamas terrorists celebrating next to the border fence in the Gaza Strip during Saturday’s attack. AP
The leaders of Palestine and Israel have attempted to negotiate a co-occupation of the territory, but potential deals negotiated by the world’s superpowers for decades have failed. Ultimately, Hamas does not believe in peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Jews.
The terrorist organization has vowed to kill Israelis and establish a full Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Hamas’s ultimate goal is to restore territorial divisions between Jews and Muslims to where they were before the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, leading to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn