Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

Hamas fought a 23-day war with Israel from late December 2008 to January 2009. Throughout
2011, Hamas carried out rocket attacks on southern Israel.
From November 14-21, 2012, Hamas fought a war with Israel during which it claims to have
launched more than 1,400 rockets into Israel. Prior to the confrontation, approximately 750
rockets had been fired into Israel from Hamas-governed Gaza. Among those, one hit an
apartment building in the Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi and killed three civilians. Following the
Egypt-mediated cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, operatives from Hamas and Palestine
Islamic Jihad coordinated and carried out a November bus bombing in Tel Aviv that wounded 29
people.
Strength: Several thousand Gaza-based operatives with varying degrees of skills are in its armed
wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, along with its reported 9,000-person Hamas-led
paramilitary group known as the “Executive Force.”
Location/Area of Operation: Hamas has a presence in every major city in the West Bank and
Gaza. The group retains a cadre of leaders and facilitators that conduct political, fundraising, and
arms-smuggling activities throughout the region. Hamas also increased its presence in the
Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, probably with the goal of eclipsing Fatah’s long-time
dominance of the camps.
Funding and External Aid: Hamas receives funding, weapons, and training from Iran. In
addition, the group raises funds in the Persian Gulf countries and receives donations from
Palestinian expatriates around the world, through its charities, such as the umbrella fundraising
organization, the Union of Good. Some fundraising and propaganda activity also takes place in
Western Europe.
aka HQN
HAQQANI NETWORK
Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 19, 2012, the
Haqqani Network (HQN) has its roots in an offensive formed in the late 1970s, around the time
of the former Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Jalaluddin Haqqani, HQN’s founder,
established a relationship with Usama bin Laden in the mid-1980s, and joined the Taliban in
1995. After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, Jalaluddin retreated to Pakistan where,
under the leadership of Jalaluddin’s son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the group began participating in the
insurgency and became known as the Haqqani Network.
Activities: HQN has planned and carried out a number of significant attacks against U.S. and
Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan government targets and civilians. HQN’s
most notorious attacks include a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, during which
the attackers killed eight individuals, including one U.S. citizen; a May 2010 attack on Bagram
Airbase using suicide bombers, rockets, and grenades, which killed an American contractor and
wounded nine U.S. soldiers; an attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in June 2011, which
killed 11 civilians and two Afghan policemen; a September 2011 truck bombing in Wardak
Province, Afghanistan, which wounded 77 U.S. soldiers; and the 19-hour attack on the U.S.
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