Changes

@KhaledAbuToameh @elliecohanim Where is @RashidaTlaib @AOC @Ilhan @UNWatch I guess only certain Palestinian lives matter to them. [https://twitter.com/YBlachman/status/1424946096086953985?s=20 Aug 10, 2021]</font></ref> The group is regarded as a [[terrorist]] organization by the [[United States]], the [[EU]], [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[Israel]], [[Japan]], [[Jordan]] and moderate Islamic leader [[Faisal Abdul Rauf]]. The name Hamas is an acronym of ''Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya'' (Islamic Resistance Movement). Hamas combines "[[Palestinian]]" nationalism with [[Islam]]ic fundamentalism, and "regards the territory of the present-day State of Israel — as well as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — as an inalienable Islamic ''waqf'' or religious bequest, which can never be surrendered to non-Muslims."<ref>''Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement'' [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3377113,00.html YNet] Accessed July 18, 2007</ref>

Overview:<ref>[https://israel-alma.org/2014/07/29/from-collateral-damage-to-human-shields-why-are-there-so-many-casualties-on-the-palestinian-side/ From Collateral Damage to Human Shields: Why There Are So Many Casualties on the Palestinian Side], Sarit Zehavi, Alma Israel, July 29, 2014.</ref>

<blockquote>

Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip since it defeated Fatah in elections and expelled its members by killing about 500 of them, between the years 2006 and 2007, learned from Hezbollah how to achieve gains on the conflict against the “Zionist enemy”. Hamas has adopted Hezbollah modus operandi using civilians as “human shields”. Few years ago the IDF published how it looks in the Shiite village of Al-Khiyam in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has placed the weapon depots dozen meters from schools in the crowded center of the village. Over the years, Hamas enjoyed wide assistance of training and consultancy from Hezbollah and applied the same methodology in Gaza. An underground, well concreted City was dug in Gaza, Where Hamas militants were hiding, while a single shelter was not built for the citizens. Gaza villages, as in Southern Lebanon, became military compounds including armories, headquarters, intelligence positions, rocket launching positions, etc. All these were spread throughout the village according to the terrain analysis: observation posts on high positions controlling the roads below, important assets such as command centers and weapons warehouses in the most crowded or sensitive sites such as hospitals, schools and mosques. During an escalation, rockets are being launched from the hidden positions that were dug in advance – within or under homes, schools, mosques and various religious centers.</blockquote>

Hamas booby-traps homes, schools, and hospitals with explosives. "Work accidents" sometimes kill civilians.

Hamas in August 2014 booby-trapped a United Nations clinic in Gaza by hiding 12 barrels containing 80 kg. of explosives each in a wall, and then using a child to lure Israeli soldiers into the building. The explosives detonated and three soldiers died.</blockquote>

Hamas charter commits the group to the destruction of Israel, the replacement of the Palestinian Authority with an Islamic state on the West Bank and Gaza, and to raising "the banner of Allah over every inch of [[Palestine]]."