Hamas is an Islamist and militant Palestinian nationalist movement based in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, committed to the creation of an autonomous Islamic state in the historical region of Palestine. It is the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or Islamic Resistance Movement which is one of the two main political parties in the Palestinian territory and the biggest and most effective militant organization here.
The Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood gave rise to HAMAS in 1987, during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising. The organization is dedicated to using armed resistance to overthrow Israel and establish an Islamic Palestinian state in its stead. Since HAMAS overthrew the Palestinian Authority in 2007, it has acted as the Gaza Strip’s de facto government.
Salah Arouri- the Hamas leader killed on 2 January 24’
According to reports, Saleh al-Arouri, a military officer and fundraiser for Hamas designated by the United States, was banished from Qatar in June 2017. In October 2017, Arouri was chosen by the organization to serve as the deputy head of its political bureau.
Since the 1980s, Arouri has helped Hamas move weapons and cash, and he was a founding member of the military arm of Hamas in the West Bank. Arouri is said to have planned the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli youths in the West Bank in June 2014, which set off Israel and Hamas’ summertime confrontation.
According to reports, he also established and oversaw Hamas’s bureau in Turkey until his expulsion in 2015.* Arouri was named as “a key financier and financial facilitator for Hamas military cells planning attacks and fomenting unrest” by the U.S. Treasury.
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice Program announced a $5 million reward in November 2018 for information that resulted in Arouri’s arrest. Arouri was the West Bank head for Hamas as well.
On January 2, 2024, Arouri allegedly died in a hit by an Israeli drone in Lebanon. Officials from Hamas and Hezbollah, a Lebanese terror group, reported that Saleh al-Arouri, who had been sought by Israel for years and was thought to be the group’s main mastermind behind West Bank terrorism, was killed in an Israeli attack in the Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh.
The others, aside from Arouri, were identified as Hamas leaders Mahmoud Shaheen, Muhammad Bashasha, Muhammad al-Rayes, and Ahmed Hammoud, as well as military commanders Samir Findi and Azzam Al-Aqraa.
Top Hamas Leaders at present
Ismail Haniyeh
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is a palestinian politician who led the Palestinian Authority as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 following Hamas’s victory in the 2006 legislative elections.
Haniyeh commanded the de facto government in the Gaza Strip from 2007 until its disintegration due to interfactional violence with rival Fatah, which resulted in the creation of an independent Hamas-led administration. He was chosen in 2017 to take over as head of Hamas’ political bureau from Khaled Meshaal.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been urged by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to utilize his current Middle East tour to put an end to Israel’s “aggression”.
Haniyeh expressed his hope that Blinken had “learned the lessons of the last three months,” in which Israel has been mercilessly bombarding Gaza in an attempt to eliminate the Islamist group, in a video message that was broadcast late on Friday on Hamas’s social media sites.
Ahead of their scheduled meeting with Blinken, Haniyeh also encouraged regional leaders to convey to him the idea that stability in the Middle East was “closely linked to our Palestinian cause”.
Khaled Mashal-Man who haunts Israel
Khaled Mashal born in 1956 in Silwad, is presently residing in Qatar. He is known as “The Man Who Haunts Israel” in Time Magazine. His family was forced to relocate between Israel and the Arab States during the 1967 war. Israel prevailed in the conflict and took control of the West Bank. Later on, Mashal joined the militant group Hamas. The organization seems determined to use violence in support of Palestine’s cause.
At the moment, he serves as the leader of the group’s “external” politburo, which is situated in Qatar. Hamas asserted in a paper from 2017 that they recognize the state of Palestine inside areas that Israel seized during the 1967 War.
Mashal was the subject of an assassination attempt in September 1997, which Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu ordered.
Mashal was sprayed in the ear by an agent with the more potent painkiller Fentanyl, which would cause him to fall asleep and never wake up. As Mashal was being taken to the hospital, Jordan’s King Hussein issued a threat to sever relations with Israel “by midnight.” Netanyahu called Bill Clinton’s principal Middle East negotiator, Dennis Ross, outlining the situation and pleading for a meeting.
The former head of Hamas, Khaled Mashal, spoke virtually on October 27 at a pro-Palestine protest in Malappuram, Kerala, urging Gaza to unite. The Solidarity Youth Movement, the youth branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, was in charge of organizing the event. Mashal discussed Palestine and the current war, declaring that they will beat Zionists and maintain their unity in support of Gaza.
“Together, we will defeat the Zionists and show solidarity with Gaza in its fight for the Al Aqsa mosque. This arrogant, criminal Zionist enemy, despite its failure and disappointment after three months of its barbaric aggression against Gaza… wants to export their crisis abroad.”
Israel is exacting revenge on those who live here. Homes are being torn down. Over half of Gaza has been destroyed. He remarked, “They are demolishing UN institutions, churches, temples, and universities.”
According to Arabic media, senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal issued a warning, stating that Israel is making trouble for itself by fighting the Gaza terror group.
Days after Hamas terror head Saleh al-Arouri was allegedly killed by Israel in Beirut, Lebanon, Mashal declared that Israel was foolish and that Palestinian “resistance” groups would only get stronger in the face of Hamas’s war.
Also, the enemy believes that by killing our leaders, the resistance will lose its will and the leadership will be weakened.
“It is unaware that this is a significant delusion,” he continued, noting that historically, “when a leader perished, another rose to prominence, and the martyrdom of a leader inspires others to follow in their footsteps, with the same fervor and resolve.”
Yahya Al Sinwar
Yahya Sinwar born in Gaza in 1962, has led Hamas in Gaza and served on its Politburo since 2017. He is regarded as one of the key players between the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IQB), the armed branch of Hamas, and the organization’s politburo. He oversaw a reassessment of Hamas’s foreign policy, which included a strengthening of ties with Egypt.
Israel has arrested Sinwar multiple times, resulting in a total of 24 years behind bars. In 2011, he was one of the Palestinian detainees freed in return for Hamas’s release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. According to reports, Sinwar was involved in the 1988 formation of al-Majd, this organization’s internal security organization. The US Department of State classified Sinwar as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in September 2015.
Yahya Sinwar’s residence in Khan Younis was destroyed by an airstrike carried out by the Israel Defense Forces. A subterranean network of tunnels that Sinwar had used as a hiding spot was destroyed by the IDF.
Yahya Sinwar was the mastermind behind Hamas’s surprise strike on Israel on October 7. Israel considers him as the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023, Al-Aqsa Flood operation, which cost it soldiers and civilian lives and damaged its reputation as the world’s most reliable source of intelligence and security. It declared that one of the objectives of its “Iron Swords” operation, launched in reaction to the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, was to eliminate him.
Yahya Al-Sinwar, became the most sought person in Israel. The British government placed travel restrictions and asset freezes on Sinwar and other Hamas officials on November 14.
A six-month asset freeze on Sinwar was imposed by an order issued by the French authorities on November 30.
During this conflict, Sinwar remained silent in public. However, the Haaretz newspaper revealed that he visited with some Israeli detainees in Gaza during their arrest and assured them in flawless Hebrew that they were in the safest location and would not be harmed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on December 6, 2023, that Sinwar’s house had been encircled by Israeli armed personnel, but he had not been contacted. According to Army officials, he is running operations from within the network of tunnels that the other commanders of Hamas’ military wing are using.
The IDF have bombarded most of the Gaza City already with more than 22,000 people, mostly women and children have been killed. The claims by IDF assure of force only against the fighters but devastation in the name of hunting Hamas leaders is widespread. With these leaders also retaliating equally, the fate of the Gaza Strip is in vain.
