How Hamas grew and upgraded its weapons arsenal to strike Israel
Title : How Hamas grew and upgraded its weapons arsenal to strike Israel
Link : How Hamas grew and upgraded its weapons arsenal to strike Israel
The unprecedented barrages reaching as far north as the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv, coupled with drone launches and even an attempted submarine attack, have put on dramatic display a homegrown arsenal that has only expanded despite the 14-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the coastal strip.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza since Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, seized the territory from the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority in 2007. It says the blockade is in place in order to prevent weapons and other military equipment from entering the Strip.
“The magnitude of (Hamas) bombing is much bigger and the precision is much better in this conflict,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City. “It’s shocking what they’ve been able to do under siege.”
Here’s a look at how, despite intense surveillance and tight restrictions, Hamas managed to amass its cache.
From crude bombs to long-range rockets
Since the founding of Hamas in 1987, the group’s secretive armed wing — which operates alongside a more visible political organization — evolved from a small militia into what Israel describes as a “semi-organized military.”
In its early days, the group carried out deadly shootings and kidnappings of Israelis. It killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, which erupted in late 2000.
As violence spread, the terror group started producing rudimentary “Qassam” rockets. Powered partly by molten sugar, the projectiles reached just a few kilometers (miles), flew wildly, and caused little damage, often landing inside Gaza.
After Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas assembled a secret supply line from longtime patrons Iran and Syria, according to Israel’s military. Longer-range rockets, powerful explosives, metal, and machinery flooded Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. Experts say the rockets were shipped to Sudan, trucked across Egypt’s vast desert, and smuggled through a warren of narrow tunnels beneath the Sinai Peninsula.
In 2007, when Hamas terrorists pushed the Palestinian Authority out of Gaza and took over governing the coastal strip in a violent coup, Israel and Egypt imposed their tight blockade. READ MORE
How Hamas grew and upgraded its weapons arsenal to strike Israel
How Hamas grew and upgraded its weapons arsenal to strike Israel
You are now reading the article How Hamas grew and upgraded its weapons arsenal to strike Israel with the link address https://randomfindtruth.blogspot.com/2021/05/how-hamas-grew-and-upgraded-its-weapons.html