What is Hamas, Palestinian group that carried out attacks on Israel?

Although Gaza serves as the primary stronghold of Hamas, it enjoys support throughout the Palestinian territories.

In a recent development, the Palestinian group Hamas launched an unexpected attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. This marks one of the most significant escalations in the long-standing Israel-Palestinian conflict in recent memory. Following the attack, Israel announced a "state of war" and initiated air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers walk past the body of a man who was killed following a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip. (REUTERS)

“We are at war and we will win,” asserted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Troops are fighting against the enemy at every location,” he added.

Know more about Hamas - the Palestinian group that launched the attack on Israel

• Hamas, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, was established in 1987 in the midst of the initial Palestinian Intifada, or uprising. It receives support from Shiite Iran and aligns with the Islamist principles of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization formed in Egypt during the 1920s.
• Since 2007, it has governed the Gaza Strip, a period that began after a short-lived civil conflict with the Fatah faction, led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas is situated in the West Bank and serves as the leader of both the Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
• Hamas assumed control of Gaza after winning the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, which were the most recent elections held at that time. Hamas alleged that Abbas was involved in a plot against them, while Abbas characterized the events as a coup.
• Hamas rejects acknowledging the existence of the state of Israel and has been strongly against the Oslo peace agreements, which were brokered by Israel and the PLO in the mid-1990s.
• Hamas operates an armed faction known as the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, which has dispatched both gunmen and suicide bombers into Israel. Hamas frames these armed actions as acts of resistance against Israeli occupation. It is officially classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Egypt, and Japan.
• Although Gaza serves as its primary stronghold, Hamas enjoys support throughout the Palestinian territories and maintains leadership figures dispersed across various Middle Eastern nations, including Qatar.