What Is Hamas?  什么是哈马斯？

Introduction  简介

Hamas is an Islamist militant movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades. It violently rejects the existence of Israel, which it claims is occupying Palestine. In October 2023, Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. In response, Israel declared a war aimed at eradicating the group. The conflict has killed more than forty-thousand people as of October 2024, according to Palestinian officials in Gaza.
哈马斯是一个伊斯兰教武装运动，近二十年来一直控制加沙地带。它暴力拒绝以色列的存在，声称以色列占领巴勒斯坦。2023 年 10 月，哈马斯袭击了南以色列，造成近 1200 人死亡，200 多人被绑架。作为回应，以色列宣布了一场旨在根除该组织的战争。截至 2024 年 10 月，根据加沙地带的巴勒斯坦官员的说法，这场冲突已造成超过四万人死亡。

Dozens of countries, including the United States, have designated Hamas a terrorist organization over the years, though some apply this label only to its military wing. The United States has pledged billions of dollars in new military aid since the Israel-Hamas war began and remains Israel’s top weapons supplier.
数十个国家，包括美国，多年来已将哈马斯定为恐怖组织，尽管有些人只将其军事翼视为恐怖组织。自以色列-哈马斯战争开始以来，美国承诺提供数十亿美元的新军事援助，并继续是以色列的主要武器供应商。

Hamas’s most important ally in the region is Iran, but it has also received significant financial and political support from Turkey. Qatar hosts the Hamas political office and also provides it with financial resources, though with the knowledge and cooperation of the Israeli government. Hamas is meanwhile one component of Iran’s so-called axis of resistance, a regional network of anti-Israel partners that includes Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and various militias in Iraq and Syria. Given these connections, many security experts fear that the Israel-Hamas war could engulf the region in a wider conflict.
哈马斯在该地区最重要的盟友是伊朗，但它也获得了土耳其在金融和政治上的大量支持。卡塔尔为哈马斯政治办公室提供场所，并为其提供资金，尽管是在以色列政府的知情和合作下。与此同时，哈马斯是伊朗所谓的抵抗轴心的一部分，这是一个包括巴勒斯坦伊斯兰圣战组织、黎巴嫩真主党、也门胡塞武装以及伊拉克和叙利亚各民兵组织的反以色列入际网络。鉴于这些联系，许多安全专家担心以色列-哈马斯战争可能引发该地区的更大冲突。

Hamas’s rival party, Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority and rules in the West Bank, has formally renounced violence, though it has not always upheld that vow in times of high Israeli-Palestinian tensions. The split in Palestinian leadership and Hamas’s unwavering hostility toward Israel diminished prospects for stability in Gaza ahead of the ongoing war, which has only cast the territory into further despair.
哈马斯的对手党派法塔赫，在巴勒斯坦权力机构和约旦河西岸地区执政，已正式放弃暴力，尽管在以巴紧张局势升级时，它并未始终坚守这一誓言。巴勒斯坦领导层分裂和哈马斯对以色列的坚定不移的敌意，在持续战争之前就削弱了加沙地带的稳定前景，这场战争反而使该地区陷入更深的绝望。

What are the group’s origins?
该小组的起源是什么？

Hamas, an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (“Islamic Resistance Movement”), was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric who became an activist in local branches of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo. Beginning in the late 1960s, Yassin preached and performed charitable work in the West Bank and Gaza, both of which Israel occupied following the 1967 Six-Day War.
哈马斯，即“伊斯兰抵抗运动”的缩写，由阿赫迈德·亚辛大谢赫创立，他是一位在开罗致力于伊斯兰学术研究的巴勒斯坦神职人员，后来在当地穆斯林兄弟会分支机构中成为一名活动家。从 20 世纪 60 年代末开始，亚辛在约旦河西岸和加沙地带传教并从事慈善工作，这两个地区在 1967 年六日战争后都被以色列占领。

 

Yassin established Hamas as the Brotherhood’s political arm in Gaza in December 1987, following the outbreak of the first intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. At the time, Hamas’s purpose was to engage in violence against Israelis as a means of restoring Palestinian backing for the Brotherhood, which was losing political support to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a Gaza-based, Iran-sponsored organization that had begun pursuing terrorist operations against Israel.
亚辛于 1987 年 12 月在加沙建立哈马斯作为穆斯林兄弟会的政治分支，紧随第一次起义爆发之后，这是巴勒斯坦对以色列占领西岸、加沙和东耶路撒冷的反抗。当时，哈马斯的目的是通过针对以色列人的暴力行为来恢复对穆斯林兄弟会的巴勒斯坦支持，因为该组织正在失去政治支持，而巴勒斯坦伊斯兰圣战组织（PIJ）——一个以加沙为基地、由伊朗资助的组织，已经开始对以色列进行恐怖主义行动。

Hamas published its charter in 1988, calling for the murder of Jews, the destruction of Israel, and in Israel’s place, the establishment of an Islamic society in historic Palestine. In what observers called an attempt to moderate its image, Hamas presented a new document [PDF] in 2017 that removed explicit references to killing Jews but still refused to recognize Israel. The revised charter also hinted that Hamas could accept a future Palestinian state along the borders established before the Six-Day War, which are generally recognized internationally as the borders of the West Bank and Gaza. The new document says only that the matter should depend on “national consensus.”
哈马斯于 1988 年发布其宪章，呼吁谋杀犹太人、摧毁以色列，并在以色列原址建立历史上的巴勒斯坦伊斯兰社会。观察者称，哈马斯试图通过在 2017 年提出一份新文件[PDF]来缓和其形象，该文件删除了对杀害犹太人的明确提及，但仍拒绝承认以色列。修订后的宪章还暗示，哈马斯可能接受在六日战争前建立的边界上的未来巴勒斯坦国，这些边界在国际上通常被认为是西岸和加沙的边界。新文件仅表示，此事应取决于“国家共识”。

Hamas first employed suicide bombing in April 1993, five months before Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords. The historic pact established limited self-government for parts of the West Bank and Gaza under a newly created entity called the Palestinian Authority (PA). Hamas condemned the accords, as well as the PLO’s and Israel’s recognition of each other, which Arafat and Rabin officially agreed to in letters sent days before Oslo.
哈马斯首次使用自杀式爆炸袭击是在 1993 年 4 月，比巴勒斯坦解放组织（PLO）领导人亚西尔·阿拉法特和以色列总理伊扎克·拉宾签署奥斯陆协议提前五个月。这一历史性协议在名为巴勒斯坦自治政府（PA）的新实体下，为西岸和加沙部分地区建立了有限的自治。哈马斯谴责了这些协议，以及 PLO 和以色列相互承认的行为，阿拉法特和拉宾在奥斯陆前几天通过信件正式同意了这些行为。

In 1997, the United States designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization. The movement went on to spearhead violent resistance during the second intifada, in the early 2000s, though PIJ and Fatah’s Tanzim militia were also responsible for violence against Israelis.
1997 年，美国将哈马斯指定为外国恐怖组织。该运动继续在 2000 年代初的第二次巴勒斯坦大起义中领导暴力抵抗，尽管巴勒斯坦伊斯兰圣战组织（PIJ）和法塔赫的坦兹姆准军事组织也对以色列人进行了暴力袭击。

Who are its leaders?
它的领导是谁？

Hamas has a host of leadership bodies that perform various political, military, and social functions. General policy is set by an overarching consultative body, often called the politburo, which operates in exile. Local committees manage grassroots issues in Gaza and the West Bank.
哈马斯拥有众多领导机构，执行各种政治、军事和社会职能。总政策由一个总咨询机构制定，通常被称为政治局，该机构在流亡中运作。地方委员会管理加沙和西岸的基础问题。

Hamas’s Governing Structure
哈马斯的治理结构

Sources:  Counter Extremism Project; European Council on Foreign Relations; Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center; Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs; CFR research.
来源：反极端主义项目；欧洲外交关系委员会；梅尔·阿米特情报与恐怖主义信息中心；巴勒斯坦国际事务学术协会；CFR 研究。

Israel has targeted top Hamas officials since the movement was founded in the late 1980s. Israeli forces killed Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, Hamas’s founder, in 2004. In recent months, the war in Gaza has once again thrown the group’s leadership into disarray, as several of its high-ranking members have been killed. Ismail Haniyeh, who served as political chief since 2017, was killed in a suspected Israeli bombing in Tehran in July 2024. Israel also killed Hamas’s military leader, Mohammed Deif, in a strike on the southern Gaza city Khan Younis in the weeks prior.
以色列自 1980 年代末哈马斯成立以来就针对该组织的顶级官员。以色列军队在 2004 年杀害了哈马斯创始人阿赫迈德·亚辛。在最近几个月，加沙战争再次使该组织的领导层陷入混乱，因为其几位高级成员被杀。自 2017 年起担任政治首脑的伊斯拉姆·哈尼亚耶在 2024 年 7 月的德黑兰疑似以色列空袭中丧生。以色列还在几周前对加沙南部城市汗尤尼斯的哈马斯军事领导人穆罕默德·迪夫发起了袭击。

In October 2024, Israel conducted a strike that killed several Hamas militants, including Yahya Sinwar, who replaced Haniyeh as political chief. Sinwar was believed to be an architect of the October 7 attack, along with Deif and Issa, and military analysts say his killing marked a major symbolic and operational success for Israeli forces. Sinwar previously headed Hamas’s military wing and served twenty-two years in an Israeli prison for masterminding the killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1988. He was among the more than one thousand Palestinian prisoners freed in 2011 in exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Hamas.
2024 年 10 月，以色列发动了一次袭击，造成数名哈马斯武装分子死亡，包括取代哈尼亚耶担任政治首脑的亚西尔·辛瓦尔。辛瓦尔被认为是在 10 月 7 日袭击的策划者之一，与迪夫和伊萨一起，军事分析师表示，他的死亡是以色列军队的重大象征性和战术成功。辛瓦尔此前曾领导哈马斯军事翼，并在 1988 年策划杀害两名以色列士兵后，在以色列监狱服刑 22 年。他是 2011 年超过一千名巴勒斯坦囚犯中获释的人之一，以换取哈马斯手中的一名以色列士兵。

“Yahya Sinwar was a vicious and unrepentant terrorist responsible for the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. At his direction, Hamas terrorists murdered Israelis, Americans, and citizens of more than 30 countries,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement following Sinwar’s death. “The world is a better place with him gone.”
亚亚·辛瓦尔是一个凶恶且无悔的恐怖分子，是自大屠杀以来对犹太人犯下最大屠杀罪行的人。在他的指挥下，哈马斯恐怖分子杀害了以色列人、美国人和 30 多个国家的公民，”美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯在辛瓦尔去世后的声明中说。“他离开后，世界变得更美好。”

Issam al-Da’alis has been Gaza’s de facto prime minister since 2021 and was previously an advisor to Haniyeh. Khaled Meshaal, another senior Hamas figure, is reportedly a top contender to replace Haniyeh. Meshaal led the group’s political arm in exile from 2004–2017, when he handed it off to Haniyeh. Khalil al-Hayya, who has led Hamas’s mediated negotiations with Israel in Qatar, is also reportedly a possible replacement. Hamas leaders established a presence in Qatar after falling out with their previous host, Syria, when Palestinian refugees participated in the 2011 uprising that preceded the Syrian Civil War. Some senior Hamas figures reportedly operate out of the group’s offices in Turkey.
伊萨姆·达利斯自 2021 年以来一直是加沙的实际总理，此前曾是哈尼亚的顾问。哈马斯的另一高级领导人卡迈勒·梅沙尔据报道是哈尼亚的潜在继任者。梅沙尔自 2004 年至 2017 年领导该组织的政治派别流亡在外，当时他将领导权交给了哈尼亚。哈利勒·哈亚，他曾在卡塔尔领导哈马斯与以色列的调解谈判，据报道也是可能的继任者。哈马斯领导人在与之前的东道国叙利亚发生争执后，在 2011 年叙利亚内战爆发前的起义中，巴勒斯坦难民参与其中，在卡塔尔建立了据点。据报道，一些高级哈马斯领导人在土耳其的该组织办公室工作。

How is Hamas funded?
哈马斯是如何获得资金的？

Historically, Palestinian expatriates and private donors in the Persian Gulf provided much of the movement’s funding. Today, Iran is one of Hamas’s biggest benefactors, contributing funds, weapons, and training. Though Iran and Hamas briefly fell out after backing opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, Iran provides some $100 million annually [PDF] to Hamas, PIJ, and other Palestinian groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States, according to 2021 U.S. State Department estimates. Iran was quick to praise Hamas’s assault on Israel in late 2023 and pledge its continuing support for the Palestinian group.
历史上，波斯湾地区的巴勒斯坦侨民和私人捐赠者为该运动提供了大量资金。如今，伊朗是哈马斯最大的资助者之一，提供资金、武器和训练。尽管伊朗和哈马斯在叙利亚内战支持对立一方后短暂失和，但根据 2021 年美国国务院的估计，伊朗每年向哈马斯、巴勒斯坦伊斯兰杰哈德组织和其他被美国列为恐怖组织的巴勒斯坦团体提供约 1 亿美元。伊朗迅速赞扬哈马斯在 2023 年底对以色列的袭击，并承诺继续支持该巴勒斯坦团体。

Turkey has been another stalwart backer of Hamas—and a critic of Israel—following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rise to power in 2002. Though Ankara insists it only supports Hamas politically, it has been accused of funding Hamas’s terrorism, including through aid diverted from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency.
土耳其自 2002 年雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安总统上台以来，一直是哈马斯的坚定支持者——同时也是以色列的批评者。尽管安卡拉坚称其只支持哈马斯的政治立场，但它被指控资助哈马斯的恐怖主义活动，包括通过从土耳其合作与协调机构转移的资金。

Egypt and Israel closed their borders with Gaza in 2006–07, restricting the movement of goods and people into and out of the territory. For years after the blockade began, Hamas collected revenue by taxing goods moving through a sophisticated network of tunnels that circumvented the Egyptian crossing into Gaza; this brought staples such as food, medicine, and cheap gas for electricity production into the territory, as well as construction materials, cash, and arms. Egypt shut down most of the tunnels breaching its territory but began to allow some commercial goods to enter Gaza through its Salah al-Din border crossing in 2018. As of 2021, Hamas reportedly collected upward of $12 million per month from taxes on Egyptian goods imported into Gaza.
埃及和以色列在 2006-07 年关闭了与加沙的边界，限制了货物和人员进出该地区的流动。封锁开始后的几年里，哈马斯通过对通过复杂隧道网络绕过埃及进入加沙的货物征税来筹集收入；这为该地区带来了食品、药品和用于发电的廉价燃气等必需品，以及建筑材料、现金和武器。埃及关闭了大部分穿越其领土的隧道，但自 2018 年起开始允许一些商业货物通过其萨拉赫丁边境口岸进入加沙。截至 2021 年，据报道，哈马斯每月从进口到加沙的埃及商品税收中筹集了超过 1200 万美元。

Does foreign aid for Gaza go through Hamas?
外国援助是否通过哈马斯流向加沙？

Before the current war, Israel allowed Qatar to provide Gaza with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual assistance through Hamas. But foreign aid generally reaches Gaza via the PA and UN agencies, namely the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), though Hamas has reportedly diverted some of this aid. As a designated terrorist entity, Hamas and its government are cut off from official assistance that the United States and European Union (EU) provide to the West Bank. Some Islamic charities in Western countries have channeled money to Hamas-backed social service groups, prompting the U.S. Treasury to freeze their assets.
在当前战争之前，以色列允许卡塔尔通过哈马斯每年向加沙提供数亿美元的援助。但外国援助通常通过巴勒斯坦权力机构和联合国机构到达加沙，即联合国近东巴勒斯坦难民救济和工程处 （UNRWA），尽管据报道哈马斯已经挪用了部分援助。作为被认定的恐怖主义实体，哈马斯及其政府无法获得美国和欧盟 （EU） 向约旦河西岸提供的官方援助。西方国家的一些伊斯兰慈善机构向哈马斯支持的社会服务团体提供资金，促使美国财政部冻结了他们的资产。

The latest Israel-Hamas war has devastated the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the already extreme poverty that existed there before October 7. More than one million people needed aid before the fighting broke out; as a result of the war, some 75 percent of Gaza’s more than two million residents have been displaced, and famine conditions are setting in. The Egyptian-Israeli blockade keeps Gaza mostly cut off from the world, reliant on the little international assistance allowed past Israeli inspectors. UNRWA remains the primary aid distributor, but it suffered a massive funding cut following accusations that it employed Hamas members involved in the October 7 massacre. Its top donor, the United States, paused funding for a year in March 2024, while around a dozen other countries issued their own, open-ended pauses or announced that future UNRWA funding would depend on the results of investigations into the allegations.
最新以色列-哈马斯战争摧毁了加沙地带，加剧了 10 月 7 日之前已经极端的贫困。在战斗爆发之前，超过一百万人口需要援助；由于战争，加沙超过两百万居民中有约 75%被迫流离失所，饥荒条件正在形成。埃及-以色列封锁使加沙大部分与世界隔绝，依赖以色列检查员允许的少量国际援助。联合国巴勒斯坦难民救济和工程处（UNRWA）仍然是主要的援助分发机构，但它在被指控雇佣了参与 10 月 7 日大屠杀的哈马斯成员后，遭受了巨额资金削减。其最大的捐助国美国在 2024 年 3 月暂停了一年的资金支持，而大约十几个其他国家发布了各自的无限期暂停或宣布未来对 UNRWA 的资金支持将取决于对指控的调查结果。

How has Hamas governed Gaza?
哈马斯是如何治理加沙的？

Hamas became the de facto authority in Gaza shortly after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005. The following year, Hamas won a majority of seats in the PA’s legislature and formed a government. It earned votes for the social services it provided and as a rejection of the incumbent Fatah, which many voters perceived as having grown corrupt at the helm of the PLO and delivering little to Palestinians through its negotiations with Israel. The outcome was unacceptable to Fatah and its Western backers, and the party ousted Hamas from power in the West Bank. In Gaza, Hamas routed Fatah’s militias in a week of fighting, resulting in a political schism between the two Palestinian territories. Palestinians have not voted for a legislature since 2006, nor a president since 2008.
哈马斯在 2005 年以色列从该地区撤军后不久成为加沙的实际权力机构。次年，哈马斯在巴勒斯坦立法机构中赢得多数席位，并组建了政府。它因其提供的社会服务而获得选票，以及作为对现任法塔赫的拒绝，许多选民认为法塔赫在巴解组织领导层中日益腐败，并通过与以色列的谈判对巴勒斯坦贡献甚微。这一结果被法塔赫及其西方支持者视为不可接受，该党将哈马斯从西岸的权力中驱逐出去。在加沙，哈马斯在一周的战斗中击败了法塔赫的民兵，导致两个巴勒斯坦领土之间出现政治分裂。自 2006 年以来，巴勒斯坦人没有为立法机构投票，也没有为总统投票。

Source:  UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
来源：联合国人道主义事务协调办公室

As Hamas took over the remnants of PA institutions in the strip, it established a judiciary and put in place authoritarian institutions. In theory, Hamas has governed in accordance with the PA’s sharia-based Palestinian Basic Law; but it has generally been more restrictive than the law requires, including by controlling how women dress and enforcing gender segregation in public. The watchdog group Freedom House found in 2020 that the “Hamas-controlled government has no effective or independent mechanisms for ensuring transparency in its funding, procurements, or operations.” Hamas also represses the Gazan media, civilian activism on social media, the political opposition, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), leaving it without mechanisms for accountability.
哈马斯接管了加沙地带巴勒斯坦自治机构残余部分后，建立了司法机构并设立了威权机构。理论上，哈马斯根据巴勒斯坦自治政府基于沙里亚法的《巴勒斯坦基本法》进行治理；但实际上，它通常比法律要求更为严格，包括控制女性着装和实施公共场所的性别隔离。自由之家监督组织在 2020 年发现，“哈马斯控制的政府在其资金、采购或运营中缺乏有效或独立的透明度保障机制。”哈马斯还压制加沙地带的媒体、社交媒体上的民间活动、政治反对派和非政府组织（NGO），使其缺乏问责机制。

How has Hamas challenged Israel?
哈马斯如何挑战以色列？

For decades, Hamas’s attacks on Israel mostly involved rocket and mortar strikes, mass shootings, and suicide bombings. Iranian security officials say that Tehran has provided Hamas with some weapons, but that Hamas gained the ability to build its own missiles after training with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and proxies. Israeli security officials estimate that Hamas had about twenty thousand rockets and mortars in its arsenal at the start of its current war with Israel. The group has also carried out incursions into Israeli territory, killing and kidnapping soldiers and civilians.
几十年来，哈马斯对以色列的袭击主要涉及火箭和迫击炮袭击、大规模枪击和自杀式爆炸。伊朗安全官员表示，德黑兰向哈马斯提供了一些武器，但哈马斯在与伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）及其代理人的训练后，获得了自行制造导弹的能力。以色列安全官员估计，哈马斯在其与以色列当前战争开始时，其军火库中约有约两万枚火箭和迫击炮。该组织还曾入侵以色列领土，杀害和绑架士兵和平民。

Prior to the 2023 conflict, Hamas and Israel had their deadliest fighting in years in 2021, when Hamas fired rockets into Israel following weeks of tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem. Some analysts say that Hamas wanted to bolster its reputation as the defender of the Palestinian cause after the PA postponed the 2021 elections. During the eleven-day conflict, Hamas and PIJ fired more than four thousand rockets from Gaza, killing ten Israeli civilians and injuring more than three hundred others. The United States and Egypt brokered a cease-fire to the conflict.
在 2023 年冲突之前，哈马斯和以色列在 2021 年发生了数年来最致命的战斗，当时哈马斯在耶路撒冷巴勒斯坦人和以色列人之间持续数周的紧张局势后向以色列发射火箭弹。一些分析人士表示，哈马斯想在巴勒斯坦民族权力机构推迟 2021 年选举后，加强其作为巴勒斯坦事业捍卫者的声誉。在为期 11 天的冲突中，哈马斯和巴勒斯坦伊斯兰圣战组织从加沙向以色列发射了超过 4000 枚火箭弹，造成 10 名以色列平民死亡，300 多人受伤。美国和埃及斡旋了冲突的停火。

How was Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023 different?
2023 年哈马斯对以色列的袭击有何不同？

Hamas’s 2023 assault on southern Israel, “Operation al-Aqsa Storm,” was extraordinary in its strategy, scale, and secrecy, analysts say. It began early on October 7, the Jewish Sabbath and an important Jewish holiday, with Hamas launching several thousand rockets into southern and central Israel, hitting cities as far north as Tel Aviv. Hamas militants also breached the heavily fortified Gaza border and infiltrated many southern Israeli towns and villages, killing nearly 1,200 people and wounding and kidnapping scores more. Fighters livestreamed videos of their actions, showing that the attack was especially brutal, with some militants appearing to perpetrate what experts say could be ruled war crimes; in March 2024, UN investigators said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” some Hamas members committed sexual violence against hostages and those killed on October 7. Military leader Mohammed Deif said Hamas undertook its assault in response to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands and its various “crimes” against the Palestinian people.
哈马斯 2023 年对以色列南部的袭击，“阿克萨风暴行动”，在战略、规模和保密性方面都非常非凡，分析师们表示。它始于 10 月 7 日，犹太人的安息日和重要的犹太节日，哈马斯向以色列南部和中部发射数千枚火箭，击中远至特拉维夫的城市。哈马斯武装分子还突破了加固严密的加沙边境，渗透到许多南部以色列城镇和村庄，造成近 1200 人死亡，数百人受伤和绑架。战斗人员直播了他们的行动视频，显示这次袭击特别残忍，一些武装分子似乎犯下了专家认为可能构成战争罪的行为；2024 年 3 月，联合国调查人员表示，有“合理理由相信”一些哈马斯成员对被扣押者和 10 月 7 日遇害者犯有性暴力行为。军事领导人穆罕默德·迪夫表示，哈马斯发动袭击是为了回应以色列对巴勒斯坦土地的占领及其对巴勒斯坦人民的“各种罪行”。

The October 7 attack is the deadliest in Israel’s seventy-five-year history and has inflicted a deep psychological trauma on its people, with some analysts drawing comparisons to the surprise Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. “It is completely unprecedented that a terrorist organization would have the capacity or the wherewithal to mount coordinated, simultaneous assaults from the air, sea, and land,” writes CFR Senior Fellow Bruce Hoffman.

The operation and the ensuing war have also drawn greater Western and international scrutiny of the military and intelligence ties between Hamas and Iran, as well as between Iran and its other “axis of resistance” allies in the region, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis. While it’s unclear how much coordination there is among them, all have launched attacks on Israel or Israel-linked targets in the ongoing war, including Iran’s first-ever attack on Israeli soil in April 2024. Meanwhile, the Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks at Israel as well as frequent strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waters, trade routes that the U.S. Navy has been tasked with defending. These extraordinary attacks have raised fears that the war in Gaza will balloon into a regional conflagration.

How do Palestinians view Hamas?

Palestinian opinions of Hamas are mixed. Before October 7, the group had been unpopular [PDF] in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, though Palestinians in both territories preferred Hamas to other political factions. Many experts say that PA President Mahmoud Abbas canceled the 2021 Palestinian national elections to prevent a likely Hamas victory.

After October 7, support for Hamas in Gaza rose four percentage points and nearly quadrupled in the West Bank, according to a December 2023 survey, though this was not enough for it to gain majority support in either territory. “Palestinians believe that diplomacy and negotiations are not an option available to them, that only violence and armed struggle is the means to end the siege and blockade over Gaza, and in general to end the Israeli occupation,” West Bank­–based pollster Khalil Shikaki told CNN. However, he added that “no one should see this as support for any atrocities that might have been committed by Hamas on that day.”

What’s next for Hamas?

Israel is seeking to completely eliminate the threat that Hamas poses to Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that “total victory” is the objective. Israeli officials have said that Hamas no longer constitutes an organized fighting force in northern Gaza, while its Gaza-based leaders, are thought to be hiding below ground in the south.

“Hamas has suffered a grievous but not a crushing blow as a result of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip,” wrote CFR expert Hoffman in June 2024, noting that U.S. intelligence estimated that Hamas still had several thousand fighters in Gaza, and that a majority of its tunnel networks there likely remained intact.

U.S. President Joe Biden has put forth a phased cease-fire deal that would halt the conflict and bring a return of the around 115 hostages, but the negotiations remained stalled in October 2024.

Hamas and Palestinian Authority negotiators have held talks on cooperating in a technocratic government that administers Gaza once the fighting ends, most recently issuing a joint statement in Beijing in July 2024. But some experts say that the Israeli government is unlikely to accept such an outcome, having so far rejected temporary cease-fires that could have given Hamas time to regroup. “The Israelis are clearly willing to countenance international opprobrium for rejecting what they regard as a bad cease-fire deal that will allow Hamas to survive and fight another day,” CFR’s Cook writes.