Israeli support for Hamas

The Israeli government has been involved in assisting or empowering the Palestinian political and military organization Hamas at various points in its history. This support continued during and in spite of active military hostilities between the two sides.

During the 1970s, Israel began providing support to Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leader who controlled a network of Islamic schools, mosques, and clubs, in order to weaken the secular nationalist Palestine Liberation Organization. It continued to encourage the expansion of Yassin's network during the first year and a half of the First Intifada, as the network re-organised into Hamas. This support lasted until 1989, when Hamas launched its first attacks on Israelis, leading to a significant crackdown against the organisation. Multiple Israeli officials have acknowledged Israel's role in strengthening Yassin's network.

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, Israeli officials encouraged Qatar to support Hamas, especially by approving the transfer of large sums of financial aid by Qatar to the organization. Several Israeli intelligence officials have cited Qatari money as a contributing factor to the success of Hamas in leading the October 7 attacks in 2023; Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the notion that Israel strategically propped up Hamas "ridiculous", and stated that Qatar's aid transfers to the Hamas government had been approved for humanitarian reasons.


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