NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 15:42
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Eliane Lamper
Foreign editor
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Eliane Lamper
Foreign editor
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly promised the destruction of Hamas, the Palestinian organization responsible for the October 7 attacks. But Hamas does not only consist of fighters, it is an organization that is active in all levels of society in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is not very popular among the population, but support is increasing slightly due to the Israeli violence and hopelessness.
After more than three months of bombings and an intensive ground offensive, the end of Hamas is not yet in sight. At least 25,000 fighters were active at the beginning of October, but the militant organization has since lost 20 to 30 percent of them, writes The Wall Street Journal Today. Hamas has been weakened, but eliminating the organization is an impossible mission, researchers say.
AFP Boys in Gaza under a poster showing a Hamas fighter
“A large part of the population in Gaza is part of Hamas,” said Abdalhadi Alijla, a researcher at the Folke Bernadotte Academy in Sweden. “Many people depend on them in their daily lives.” Hamas also takes care of the bureaucracy and is the largest provider of jobs. Nurses, teachers and police officers: they all receive their salaries from the organization’s coffers.
Palestinian nationalism
Moreover, Hamas is an ideology that represents Palestinian nationalism. “Hamas is the result of the Israeli occupation, and their armed resistance is only becoming more popular,” says Omar Dweik, a researcher at Tilburg University. Never before has the Israeli army used so much violence in Gaza and so many Palestinian civilians have been killed.
Hamas is an organization with different branches and ideologies. It is a political party and a social movement and has an armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, which commit acts of terror. There are radical and moderate movements within Hamas, and the various branches are controlled by their own leaders.
Hamas’s organization, tactics and interests
Before the war the support for Hamas among the population of the Gaza Strip 38 percent, which rose to 42 percent during the war. Support for Hamas’s political leaders also increased somewhat. That is not surprising, support also grew during previous wars. As soon as the war is over, that support will decrease again, is the trend.
Hamas does not call elections, so polls are the only way to measure popularity. Since it was democratically elected in 2006, it has consolidated its hold. The widely respected research agency Palestinian Center for Politics and Survey Research (PCPSR) conducts this among the population.
“Palestinians know that Hamas often does not represent their interests, and that these bombings are the result of their action on October 7,” says Omar Dweik. Not everyone also supports the group’s strict Islamic ideology, he says. “But Hamas does have a big role in putting pressure on Israel, because there is no one else to do that for them.”
“For the vast majority of Palestinians, the biggest problem is not Hamas, but the Israeli occupation that has lasted for more than fifty years,” says researcher Alijla, who grew up in Gaza. Hamas may have self-governance, but the Israeli army manages the borders and determines who and what has access to this ‘open-air prison’, as the area is also called.
Dissatisfaction with governance
This does not alter the fact that there has been great dissatisfaction for years about the daily management of Hamas, about the corruption and the strict rules. At least 40 percent of the population is unemployed, and an even larger part lives below the poverty line. A majority would prefer to see the group leave and would not vote for Hamas in elections.
Expressing criticism is risky, but even during this war it is sometimes heard. “This is our fate, this is what our government, what Hamas has done to us,” Amna Ismail Shwaf said fearlessly to the camera as she stood in her granddaughter’s destroyed bedroom. This is the worst war the 69-year-old has experienced.
Ismail Shwaf criticized when she briefly returned to her destroyed home:
Amna back in a destroyed house for a while: ‘We have never experienced it this bad before’
Palestinians don’t think this will be the end of Hamas. Nearly two-thirds of Gazans do not believe that Israel will succeed in eliminating Hamas, the poll shows. Half think that Hamas will still be in power after the war. But they will have no choice themselves.
About half of the population is under the age of 18, and has no other life than under Hamas and the almost complete blockade imposed by Israel. They were not yet born when Hamas was elected. In particular, more and more young people believe that only armed resistance can end the occupation. There has been no talk of a peace process for years.
There is a lot of support for the attacks on October 7, although a large majority denies that Hamas also attacked Israeli civilians. “Palestinians do not want war, not even the young people,” says Alijla. “It’s a crazy paradox, because why does someone join Hamas or Islamic Jihad? Because their family is being killed and they see their country being taken further and further.”
2024-01-21 14:42:06
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