FACTS ABOUT GAZA & THE SUFFERING CHILDREN IN GAZA.

 HAMAS formed in late 1987 at the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada (uprising). Its roots are in the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it is supported by a robust sociopolitical structure inside the Palestinian territories,  as an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestinian branch. The group is committed to armed resistance against Israel and the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel's place.

Hamas  Arabic: romanized: Ḥam as, an acronym of its official name, the Islamic Resistance Movement  "Ḥarakat al-Muqawamah al-ʾIslamiyyah", is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military organization governing the Gaza Strip of the  Israeli - occupied  Palestinian territories.Headquartered in Gaza City, it has a presence in the West Bank, the larger of the two Palestinian territories, in which its secular rival Fatah exercises control.

Rocket attacks fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, 2001–2021.

Hamas has used both political activities and violence in pursuit of its goals. For example, while politically engaged in the 2006 Palestinian Territories parliamentary

election campaign, Hamas stated in its election manifesto that it was prepared to use "armed resistance to end the occupation".

From 2000 to 2004, Hamas was responsible for killing nearly 400 Israelis and wounding more than 2,000 in 425 attacks, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks into Israel.

Hamas has a command centre under Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

National Security spokesman John Kirby said the group stored arms there and were prepared for an Israeli attack.

The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The conflict originated with the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Following the withdrawal, Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, and a civil war between Hamas and Fatah in 2007 culminated in Hamas gaining control over Gaza. In response to Hamas's takeover, Egypt and Israel imposed an extensive blockade of the Gaza Strip that devastated Gaza's economy.International rights groups have decried the blockade as a form of collective punishment, while Israel defended it as necessary to prevent weapons and dual-use goods from entering the territory. Since 2006, Hamas and Israel have fought five wars, the most recent in 2023.

The conflict is also a scene of power struggle between regional powers including Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and Qatar, supporting different sides of the conflict in light of the regional standoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia on one hand and between Qatar and Saudi Arabia on the other, as well as crisis in Egyptian-Turkish relations.

Israel–Gaza barrier

Israel completed the initial Israel–Gaza barrier in 1996. It has helped reduce infiltration from Gaza Strip into Israel.[citation needed] Special permits to enter Israel for medical purposes were also greatly reduced,[citation needed] which has made travel for Palestinians difficult.

Daniel Schueftan, in his 1999 book, Disengagement: Israel and the Palestinian Entity ("The Need for Separation: Israel and the Palestinian Authority"), reviews new and existing arguments underlying different separation stances, in order to make the case for separation from the Palestinians, beginning with those in the West Bank and Gaza. Schueftan favors the "hard separation" stances of politicians like Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak.

Yitzhak Rabin was the first to propose the creation of a physical barrier between the Israeli and Palestinian populations in 19 and by 1994, construction on the first barrier – the Israel–Gaza barrier – had begun; it is

actually a wire fence equipped with sensors. Following an attack on Bet Lid, near the city of Netanya, Rabin specified the objectives behind the undertaking, stating that:

This path must lead to a separation, though not according to the borders prior to 1967. We want to reach a separation between us and them. We do not want the majority of the Jewish residents of the state of Israel, 98% of whom live within the borders of sovereign Israel, including a united Jerusalem, to be subject to terrorism."