700 Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians have been killed since the militant organization Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Pentagon says that the US military is deploying ships and fighter jets to bolster regional resistance during the ongoing conflict in Israel.
Attacks on Israel by Hamas have been dubbed the ‘Operation Storm Al-Aqsa’. The current situation in Israel and Palestine is being described as the most tense situation in the past decades.
Israel claims that many of its citizens and soldiers have been taken hostage by Palestinian fighters, while according to the United Nations, more than 123,000 Palestinians have been displaced due to the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
In this report, we will examine how Hamas was founded, where the organization gets its weapons from, and what the capabilities of its rockets and missiles are.
On December 14, 1987, when the first intifada was at its peak in Palestine, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin along with a few people announced a new resistance movement which was later named as ‘Hamas’.
Earlier, Sheikh Ahmad Yasin had said in an interview that he had spent a lot of time preparing the new youth generation for resistance.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by Israel several years later, was middle-aged and disabled at the time, and his announcement probably went unnoticed by many at the time.
After the announcement of the establishment of this movement, the military wing of Hamas was founded, but the first operation against the Israeli army took place two years later when two Israeli soldiers were killed.
Before the first elections held in the Gaza Strip in 2006, Hamas did not have significant military power, but in the 2006 elections, Hamas won a majority and was in a position to establish a government in the Gaza Strip. The United States and Western countries rejected the findings and demanded that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel.
A few months later, clashes broke out between Hamas and the Fatah movement. Fatah is considered the representative party of the Palestinians internationally. However, as a result of these clashes, Fatah members were expelled from the Gaza Strip and Hamas gained complete control of Gaza.
How does Hamas get weapons?
This is a key question in this controversy that no one has a definitive answer to. However, a few analyzes are possible.
Hamas started with light weapons and later started manufacturing weapons. In the past, Israel bombed weapons factories linked to Hamas from time to time.
A Russian-made Katyusha rocket was fired at Israel from Gaza for the first time in 2006, after which Israeli forces imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip in 2007, and it has not been easy for Hamas to obtain weapons.
That’s why Hamas started making weapons on its own. Some analysts believe that Iran supports Hamas through Lebanon, but these allegations have not been substantiated.
During this time, Hamas also developed missiles, which were initially quite light. Some Palestinian politicians demanded that Hamas abandon the use of missiles in the face of an Israeli response, which would be in the form of aerial bombardments and ground attacks.
Ghost Wars
In the year 2007, a new type of war strategy was introduced by Hamas, which was called the tunnel or ‘war of the tunnel’.
And then within a few years, Hamas built a complex and integrated system of tunnels that give Gaza access to Egypt and other areas. When Israel launched a ground attack in 2014, Hamas took advantage of this system. Hamas fighters would suddenly appear, shoot and disappear.
Israel tried to destroy this system but it was not that easy.
In the following years, Hamas developed ever better and more powerful missiles that could hit southern Israel as far as Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Now Hamas missiles can target even Israel’s main airports. Israel has often had to lock down entire cities and shelter residents. Because of these missiles, Israel is also facing an economic pressure.
A new Hamas capability was also revealed during the recent clashes when gliders were used in the attack.
Hamas weapons
Hamas has different types of missiles. Some of these are believed to have been brought through the tunnels to Egypt.
However, the important thing is that the missiles are now manufactured in Gaza. The Gaza Strip now has this capability.
Israeli and foreign experts believe that Iran has helped develop the missile industry in Gaza.
Hamas has a large number of short-range Qassem missiles that can be fired up to 10 kilometers. Al-Quds missile can be fired up to 16 km while Grad missile system and Sejal missile can be fired up to 55 km.
In addition to these, Hamas now has long-range missiles, including the Al-Fajr, which has a range of 100 km, while some missiles have a range of 120 to 200 km.
That is, Hamas has weapons that can target Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
From the first Katyusha rockets to new drones, Hamas’ military prowess is like an iceberg. That is, more is hidden than what is visible.
