[RESUMO] In a situation that bears some similarities to the reality of the Brazilian favelas, Hamas has expanded its influence in the Gaza Strip by exploiting the mutual hatred that is corroding the region and introducing social services to a population lacking basic livelihoods such as There is a lack of food and electricity. . In this scenario, the group’s proposed religious radicalization and terrorist violence are viewed as lesser evils by a segment of the Palestinian civilian population that feels defenseless.
Hamas has never hidden its goal of destroying Israel. In 1988, the group that raped, injured, terrorized, kidnapped and killed hundreds of people in the October 7 attacks on Israeli soil published a letter that was openly antiSemitic and opposed to peace agreements.
One of the 36 articles states that “the Day of Judgment will not occur until the Muslims fight the Jews (by killing the Jews).” Another rejects “socalled peaceful solutions” as a “waste of time” since “there is no solution to the Palestinian issue except through jihad.” The preamble states: “Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam destroys it, as it has destroyed others before it.”
The same Hamas dominates the daily lives of Palestinians. Does this mean that the majority in the territory has always agreed with the group’s terrorist goals? It’s not there.
The certainty that much of the Western world does not care at all about their suffering, coupled with the resentment that has accumulated over the blockade of Gaza, has driven some sympathy for Hamas, the Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement .
Palestinians say: Outside the Muslim world, almost no one cares if people die of trivial illnesses in the besieged Gaza Strip while Israelis receive the best medical technology just a few kilometers away. Or if they have limited access to electricity and food.
Not to mention what they see as war crimes that would horrify Western nations if committed against their own. The new conflict would be a breeding ground for them.
The Red Cross has already warned that hospitals in Gaza are “at risk of being converted into morgues.” With private energy from Israel, the company’s Middle East director said, “newborns in incubators and elderly patients” are at risk. The state responsible for the offensive has already announced that it will not end its blockade until Hamas releases all the hostages it has taken, including cutting off water supplies to the entire population.
According to the local Ministry of Health, bombs killed hundreds of people in one of these health centers in Gaza on Tuesday (17). Tel Aviv has not yet confirmed whether it was behind the bombing and spoke of “a lot of airstrikes and also a lot of disinformation spread by Hamas.”
These are not only extraordinary times that would lead to actions that contradict the fundamental principles of human rights.
A report published in July by Save The Children, an NGO with an international reputation, denounced the deplorable conditions for minors held by Israeli forces. The majority of detainees are beaten, handcuffed and dressed in armor, according to the organization. In the statements of 228 former underage inmates there are reports of lack of sleep, water and food.
“The main alleged crime is stone throwing, which is punishable by 20 years in prison for Palestinian children,” the NGO says. A 13yearold boy describes: “The soldier threatened to kill me when he arrested me. […] He told me he would come back for me and every day I wait for that day to come.
On the 10th, Unicef, the United Nations child protection agency, said it was concerned about the plight of Palestinian children in general after Israel declared war in retaliation for the terrorist attacks. “Before this renewed violence, 1.1 million of them were already dependent on humanitarian aid, around half of the child population.” Hundreds have already died since the current war began.
The killing of an Al Jazeera journalist covering a military operation in the occupied West Bank by a man in uniform helped bring the situation to a boil in 2022.
In addition, previous military attacks helped fuel internal hostilities against neighbors. In 2014, Israeli troops killed around 1,500 civilians during an invasion of the Gaza Strip. Many families lost more than one member and also the roof that housed them.
At the time, a 57yearold man told Al Jazeera that dozens of Israeli soldiers had broken into his home. He tried to explain to them in Hebrew, which he had learned from more than 30 years as a domestic worker in Israel, that the residents, most of them women and children, were all civilians. He said he was ignored and they ended up using some relatives as human shields as they left the house.
A similar situation to that in the favelas in Brazil, which are plagued by police violence. While not an official state policy, it causes real harm and can lead residents to view militiamen and drug traffickers as the lesser of two evils.
This is why the complexity of the regional conflict so easily leads to a cycle of mutual hatred that feeds the extreme right in Israel and destroys the radicalization of Muslims. This string tends to break on the weaker side. That of Palestinian civilians.
Hamas was founded in 1987, a year before the letter declaring its Islamic fundamentalism. Context: the socalled “Stone War,” or First Intifada, when Palestinians armed themselves as best they could against the other side after an Israeli truck hit a car carrying workers in Gaza. Four of them died.
The uprising lasted six years until both sides signed the first peace agreements in 1993, but these did not last long.
Hamas is emerging as an Islamic alternative to nationalist and leftwing groups that had previously dominated as a counterpoint to Israel. Rashmi Singh, professor of international relations at PUC Minas Gerais and author of “Hamas and Suicide Terrorism,” also points to the extensive network of social services that the movement has built in Palestine. “The health system, the educational network, clubs for sports like judo, all of this is very important when we think about Hamas.”
An infrastructure that brings a semblance of normality to a population facing an economic and geographical blockade by Israel. Reports of human rights violations by Hamas against its own people ultimately carry less weight, representing a setback for political dissidents, women, LGBTQIA+ and other fragile sections of society.
FGV political scientist Guilherme Casaões recalls that the group’s reach increased during the Second Intifada from 2000. “Given the paralysis of the peace negotiations, made worse by the death of Yasser Arafat.” [líder do partido secular Fatah e maior autoridade palestina por anos]In 2004, Hamas managed to offer a proposal of radicalization through religious means and violence through terrorism, which made it popular and stripped Fatah of its power.”
These extremist political actors ultimately won the 2006 parliamentary elections. “The result was not recognized by Fatah, Israel and several countries. This led to Hamas’s unilateral takeover of Gaza the following year.”
Meanwhile, tensions with Israel continued to escalate, fueling the increasingly potent idea of a larger enemy to combat. This is also where the faith component comes into play. “Palestine is important not only for the Palestinians, but also for the Muslim world. In Islam, Jerusalem is the third holiest place after Mecca and Medina, where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven,” says PUC’s Singh.
This mix of religious, social and political components creates an atmosphere conducive to Hamas. That’s why some Palestinians and supporters celebrate while stories of slaughtered kibbutzim, raped women, captured children and even a young woman who learned of her grandmother’s execution after her tormentor filmed her and posted the video on the victim’s Facebook page had to go around the world.
It’s a bit of “they started it” logic. It remains to be seen how this will turn out.