Militant group that controlled Gaza since 2007. Israel has smashed its leadership, its rocket arsenal and its ability to mount complex attacks. What remains is a ragtag guerrilla force with plentiful fresh recruits, which cannot muster much firepower. Thousands of Gazans have joined protests demanding its ousting.
Hamas originated from the Islamic Society, a religious group in Gaza. In the 1980s Israel formed a tacit partnership with the society, allowing it to raise funds and looking the other way when it began stockpiling weapons, calculating that Islamists could be a cudgel against Fatah, then Israel's main nationalist threat. The group later renamed itself the Islamic Resistance Movement—Hamas—and turned to suicide-bombings against Israel.
Under Yahya and Muhammad Sinwar, Hamas's Gazan branch dominated the movement. Muhammad Sinwar, the military chief, was confirmed dead on June 8th 2025 after his body was found in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis. With both Sinwar brothers dead, the leaders outside the strip—in Doha, Beirut and Istanbul—have the upper hand.
The new de facto Hamas leader in Gaza is Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the last of the veteran Hamas chiefs in the strip, who was tasked with concealing and securing the Israeli hostages seized on October 7th.
The movement is run by four men outside Gaza: Khaled Meshal, a former head of Hamas and longtime advocate of closer ties with moderate Sunni regimes instead of Iran; Zaher Jabarin, who represents the West Bank branch and controls the movement's finances; Muhammad Darwish, a Lebanese-born Palestinian; and Khalil al-Hayya, a former deputy of Yahya Sinwar and the sole Gazan in the quartet, considered the hardliner, now based in Qatar. The other three are expected to support a deal relinquishing Hamas's post-war role in Gaza but preserving its standing in the Arab world.
By mid-2025 Hamas was at its lowest ebb in nearly four decades. All but one of its military council had been killed. Of the 15-strong politburo in Gaza, once the movement's driving force, most were dead; the three known survivors had fled abroad. Just 6% of Gazans were said to still support it. The 36 hospitals, 12 universities and hundreds of schools Hamas used to oversee mostly lay in ruins. At least six clan-based gangs had carved out their own enclaves in Gaza, filling the vacuum, and were engaged in near-daily skirmishes with what remained of Hamas. Israel armed some of the clans. In 2009, at the peak of its power, Hamas demanded a majority of seats on the Palestinian National Council as its price for reconciling with Fatah.
On October 7th 2023 Hamas attacked kibbutzim and the Nova music festival, kidnapping 251 hostages into Gaza. As of mid-2025, 146 have come home, 56 bodies have been repatriated, and 49 remain in Gaza, of whom around 20 are believed to be still alive.
In August 2025 Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo for negotiations mediated by Egypt with Qatar and Turkey. On the table was a proposal for Hamas to decommission its weapons, dissolve its armed brigades, free the remaining hostages and surrender power. In exchange, Israel would withdraw from Gaza, an interim Palestinian technocratic administration supported by a UN-endorsed international force would be put in place, and reconstruction would begin. Qatar and Turkey, Hamas's last regional backers, were understood to have said that if Hayya refused a deal, they might refuse to allow him and Hamas's other leaders—who all left Doha a fortnight earlier—to return. Hamas's political leaders expressed readiness to hand over weapons to a new Palestinian administration once Israel fully withdraws.
Internal dissent is growing. On WhatsApp groups, some Hamas members have called for a laying down of arms. Others envision the group becoming a political party in the manner of Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein or Israel's own United Arab List—one suggestion for the name was "Justice and Development". A reimagined political Hamas could agree to the conditions set by Mahmoud Abbas for participation in recently announced Palestinian elections: endorsing a two-state settlement, negotiations with Israel, and Abbas's demand for a monopoly on Palestinian weapons.
Hamas's full name is the Islamic Resistance Movement. The Cairo talks centred on whether it might drop the word "Resistance" and abandon armed struggle. But the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades fight on in Gaza city—apart from cobbling shoes out of wood and rubber, soldiering is one of the last job opportunities Gaza still offers. As of October 2025 the Qassam Brigades could still muster perhaps 10,000 fighters, including some 2,000 of its crack Nukhba force hiding in Gaza city—but more than half of Hamas's footsoldiers had been killed.
Hamas still controls nearly half of the strip and has recruited thousands of new fighters since the ceasefire. After the October 2025 ceasefire it deployed thousands of armed men to patrol the streets of Gaza. The Sahm ("Arrow") unit, an internal-security force, has murdered and tortured Hamas's critics throughout the war and redoubled its efforts since the ceasefire took effect. Hamas has clashed with rival clans and militias, using the existence of collaborators and gangs as a pretext to suppress anyone who might oppose its rule. Multiple infractions of the ceasefire have taken place, with ambushes of Israeli troops along the Yellow Line and regular Israeli attacks deeper into Gaza.
On September 29th 2025 Donald Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu presented a 20-point plan under which Hamas would disarm, its leaders and fighters would receive amnesty or exile, and a technocratic administration excluding Hamas would take over. Were Hamas to accept in principle that it is prepared to relinquish its weapons and its claim to govern Gaza, that would amount to signalling it accepts it is not the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people—a huge shift.
On October 8th 2025 negotiators in Egypt reached agreement on the first phase of the plan. Hamas accepted the deal after the entire Arab League called on the group to disarm and officials from numerous Arab countries told its leaders they had no choice. Qatar and Turkey signalled that if Hamas refused, its exiled leaders risked losing their haven. Hamas settled for assurances from Trump that he would hold Israel to the plan's terms. Under phase one, Hamas was to release 20 living hostages within 72 hours; Israel would release 1,950 Palestinians from its jails, including 250 serving life sentences. Hamas told mediators it did not know the location of all 28 hostages who died in captivity. The group insisted it would not disarm and would play a role in Gaza's future, but Trump nonetheless praised its acceptance.
Hamas operates by consensus rather than presidential authority, which slowed decision-making. Its 15-man politburo had no leader after the assassination of the two previous incumbents. The membership of its Shura Council is a secret. Messages can take weeks to travel from tunnels in Gaza to office-blocks in Doha and Istanbul. In the past Hamas has elected new leaders; since the war it has instead filled its ranks by istimzaj (consultation), which favours continuity over reform. Deputies have replaced their bosses.
As of mid-2026, the 20-point ceasefire plan announced by Donald Trump remains largely unimplemented. The NCAG, the Palestinian technocratic body appointed to administer Gaza, is stuck in a Cairo hotel; its members have no tools, no bank account and no information about what is happening. Only 1,000 of a planned 25,000-strong Palestinian civil police force have been approved by Israel and training has yet to begin. More than 750 people have been killed since Trump announced his truce roughly seven months earlier.
Israel continues to bar the entry of many items required for repairs, often claiming they are "dual use". Stockpiles of pipes to repair sewage and water mains sit out of reach in the more than half of Gaza controlled by Israel. Electricity and proper schooling vanished more than two years ago. Hospitals and universities lie in ruins.
Hamas still has an estimated 20,000 fighters remaining; Israel has killed perhaps 10,000 militants. Iran's resilience in the face of American and Israeli attack has emboldened its remaining leaders. A recent municipal election in Gaza's Deir al-Balah city was marked by low turnout but Hamas-aligned figures kept control. Hamas is raising already-steep prices on petrol and engine oil to extract enough revenue to pay salaries.
Hamas made an estimated $1bn last year, mostly from foreign earnings. It used to receive monthly stipends of $30m from Qatar and $15m from Iran; both have ceased. It raided banks in Gaza in April 2024, stealing over $100m, and looted UN warehouses in the early months of the war. Salary payments for its 50,000 public-sector workers have all but ceased. Its remaining decision-makers operate from Doha and Istanbul.
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