Gaza Strip under Hamas in the context of "Israel Defense Forces"

The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the West Bank) that make up the State of Palestine in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Gaza is bordered by Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north. Its capital and largest city is Gaza City.

The territorial boundaries were established while Gaza was controlled by the Kingdom of Egypt at the conclusion of the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. During that period the All-Palestine Protectorate, also known as All-Palestine, was established with limited recognition and it became a refuge for Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestine war. Later, during the Six-Day War, Israel captured and occupied the Gaza Strip, initiating its decades-long military occupation of the Palestinian territories. The mid-1990s Oslo Accords established the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a limited governing authority, initially led by the secular party Fatah until that party's electoral defeat in 2006 to the Sunni Islamic Hamas. Hamas would then take over the governance of Gaza in the Battle of Gaza the next year, subsequently warring with Israel.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (an acronym from the Arabic: حركة المقاومة الإسلامية, romanized: Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah), is a Sunni Islamist Palestinian nationalist political organisation with a military wing known as the al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.

The Hamas movement was founded by Palestinian Islamic scholar Ahmed Yassin in 1987, after the outbreak of the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation. It emerged from his 1973 Mujama al-Islamiya Islamic charity affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Initially, Hamas was discreetly supported by Israel, as a counter-balance to the secular Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) to prevent the creation of an independent Palestinian state. In the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, Hamas secured a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council by campaigning on promises of a corruption-free government and advocating for resistance as a means to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation. In the 2007 Battle of Gaza, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from rival Palestinian faction Fatah. It has since governed the territory separately from the Palestinian National Authority, and has been criticized for human rights violations. After Hamas's takeover, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip. Egypt also began its blockade of Gaza at this time. This was followed by multiple wars with Israel, including those in 2008–09, 2012, 2014, 2021, and an ongoing one since 2023, which began with the October 7 attacks.

Ismail Haniyeh (Arabic: إسماعيل هنية, romanized: Ismāʿīl Haniyyah, pronunciation; 29 January 1962 – 31 July 2024) was a Palestinian politician who served as third chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination in July 2024. He also served as the prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 2006 until June 2014 and the first Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip from June 2007 until February 2017, where he was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar.

Haniyeh was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in the then Egyptian-administered Gaza Strip in 1962 or 1963, to parents who were expelled or fled from Al-Jura (now part of Ashkelon) during the 1948 Palestine war. He earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1987, where he first became involved with Hamas, which was formed during the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation. His involvement led to his imprisonment for three short periods after participating in protests. After his release in 1992, he was exiled to Lebanon, returning a year later to become a dean at Gaza's Islamic University. Haniyeh was appointed to head a Hamas office in 1997 and subsequently rose in the ranks of the organization.

Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar (Arabic: يحيى إبراهيم حسن السنوار, romanized: Yaḥyá Ibrāhīm Ḥasan al-Sinwār; 29 October 1962 – 16 October 2024) was a Palestinian militant and politician who served as fourth chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from August 2024, and as the second leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from February 2017, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh in both roles. He was killed in a clash with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in October 2024.

Sinwar was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Egyptian-occupied Gaza in 1962 to a family who had been expelled or fled from Majdal 'Asqalan during the 1948 Palestine War. He finished his studies at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he received a bachelor's degree in Arabic studies. In 1989, Sinwar was sentenced to four life sentences in Israel for orchestrating the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he considered to be collaborators. He spent 22 years in prison until his release among 1,026 others in a 2011 prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. During his time in prison, Sinwar continued to coordinate the military activities of Hamas. Sinwar was one of the co-founders of the security apparatus of Hamas.

Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan al-Sinwar (Arabic: محمد إبراهيم حسن السنوار, romanized: Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Ḥasan as-Sinwār; 16 September 1975 – 13 May 2025) was a Palestinian politician and militant who became the third Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, following the killing of his brother, Yahya Sinwar in October 2024. He also served as the seventh commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades since July 2024. He held both positions until he was killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in May 2025.

Born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp, Sinwar spent several years in Israeli and Palestinian Authority jails in the 1990s and became the leader of Hamas's Khan Yunis Brigade in 2005. Israel attempted to assassinate him several times prior to killing him in May 2025.

Izz al-Din al-Haddad (Arabic: عز الدين الحداد, romanized: ʻIzz al-Dīn al-Ḥaddād, born 1970), also known by his nom de guerre Abu Suhaib (Arabic: أبو صهيب), is a Palestinian politician and militant who has served as the leader and commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades since May 2025. He has also served as the fourth Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip since May 2025. He held both positions following the assassination of his predecessor, Mohammed Sinwar. He also co-currently served as the head of the Gaza Brigade and oversees the northern sector of the Gaza Strip.

Al-Haddad is a member of Hamas's General Military Council and has been instrumental in planning and executing the group's operations. He is known as the "Ghost of al-Qassam" in Gaza.

The Palestinian Joint Operations Room, officially Joint Room for Palestinian Resistance Factions, is a Gaza-based joint front and command institution for the military wings of various Palestinian factions. It serves as high command of the de facto armed forces of the Hamas-controlled Gazan government and includes armed groups from various backgrounds, and ideologies from both the right and the left, including Islamists, socialists, nationalists, and others.

The Joint Operations Room is managed from the Gaza Strip, but forms a single battlefront against Israel from wherever Palestinian militant forces are located, without being confined to a specific geographic area.