What is Hamas? A simple guide to the armed Palestinian group

After two years of its genocidal war on Gaza, Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas, but has continued to demand that the Palestinian group disarm and disband.

Hamas, which was founded nearly 40 years ago and has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, has a deep presence in Palestine, politically, administratively, and militarily.

Here’s what you need to know about Hamas:

What is the group Hamas?

Hamas is the Arabic acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Resistance Movement), and the word also means “zeal” in Arabic.

It is a political group with an armed wing known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. According to its foundational document, its goal is “to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project”.

Hamas won elections to lead the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in 2006. The other major Palestinian party, Fatah, soon fought Hamas for the top position, but ended up being expelled from Gaza.

During its time in power in Gaza, Hamas has run the administration, internal security, commerce and all other aspects of government.

Now, according to a 20-point plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end the war, Hamas will give up its governance of Gaza.

When was Hamas formed?

Hamas was founded in Gaza in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his aide Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi shortly after the start of the first Intifada, an uprising against Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

The movement started as an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and created the Qassam Brigades to pursue an armed struggle against Israel.

What are Hamas’s principles?

Unlike the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Hamas does not recognise Israel and opposes the Oslo peace accords signed by Israel and the PLO in the mid-1990s.

“Hamas affirms that the Oslo Accords and their addenda contravene the governing rules of international law in that they generate commitments that violate the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” Hamas said in its 2017 Document of General Principles and Policies.

However, the group has accepted the principle of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders (the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip).

The group also holds armed resistance to occupation as one of its founding principles, with its 2017 Document stating: “Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and laws.

“At the heart of these lies armed resistance.”

Who are its allies?

Hamas often works with Islamic Jihad, the second-largest armed group in Gaza, and the two led the joint operations room that coordinated military activity among armed groups in Gaza.

It was also part of a regional alliance that included Iran, the Lebanese group Hezbollah, the al-Assad regime in Syria, Shia militias in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen, referred to as the Axis of Resistance

The Axis took major blows in the last two years following Israel’s wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, and the fall of al-Assad in December 2024.

During ceasefire negotiations with Israel, Hamas relied on Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye to lead relations with the US, which negotiated on behalf of Israel.

Hamas’s position is not entirely clear after the weakening of the Axis and the Trump plan, which calls for Hamas to cede governance of Gaza.

What is the future of Hamas?

The past two years have left Hamas “heavily beaten but not defeated”, Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Al Jazeera.

The group will be looking to transition from a resistance group that governed Gaza into a Palestinian political party, he added.

Key to that is the debate over Hamas’s arms, with the group having said privately that it may be willing to decommission its offensive weapons, while publicly rejecting calls to give up its arms.

In terms of offensive capacity, Shehada said the group’s rockets are heavily depleted.

“They [Hamas] are reluctant to use rockets because they don’t want Israel to resume the genocide, and that will remain the case for the next 10 years minimum,” he said. “While Gaza is rebuilt, they won’t fire rockets.”

US President Donald Trump recently warned that Hamas must lay down its arms, warning, “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them.”

Given its founding principles, Hamas could well point to the continued presence of Israeli troops in Gaza to justify keeping its weapons.

Israel is currently occupying more than half of Gaza, and while Israeli troops may eventually pull back, the Israeli government wants to use approximately 17 percent of the Strip as a buffer zone.

“Hamas poses no threat to Israel at the moment, but they are a threat to Israeli troops in Gaza,” Shehada said.