Gaza Strip under Hamas

Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip in Palestine since its takeover of the territory from the rival Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) on 14 June 2007, until the Gaza war, during which it lost control of most of the territory. The Hamas administration was first led by Ismail Haniyeh from June 2007 until February 2017; then by Yahya Sinwar until his killing in October 2024; then by Mohammed Sinwar until his assassination in May 2025; and since then by Izz al-Din al-Haddad. As a result of the Gaza peace plan, agreed in October 2025, the Israeli military currently controls approximately 53% of the Gaza Strip.

After Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections on 25 January 2006, Ismail Haniyeh was nominated as the prime minister of the PA, establishing a national unity government with Fatah. This government effectively collapsed with the outbreak of the violent conflict between Hamas and Fatah. After the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas on 14 June 2007, PA president Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government and appointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister. Though the new Palestinian government's authority was claimed to extend to both the Palestinian territories, in effect it became limited to the West Bank, as Hamas did not recognize the dismissal and continued to rule the Gaza Strip as an effectively separate administration from the PA. There have been reconciliation attempts between Fatah and Hamas since the 2007 split; a brief Palestinian unity government in 2014 failed to organize elections and reunify the Palestinian territories. A third government was formed by Hamas in October 2016.

Since Hamas assumed control over the Gaza Strip, it has engaged in multiple wars with Israel, including those in 2008, 2012, 2014, and an ongoing one since 2023. Hamas lost control of the majority of the Strip in early June 2025, amidst Operation Gideon's Chariots. Hamas has also come into conflict with rival Islamist factions in Gaza that adhere to Salafi-jihadism. Examples include the 2009 revolt of Jund Ansar Allah against Hamas in Rafah, and the 2011 Hamas crackdown on Tawhid al-Jihad after the latter's murder of Vittorio Arrigoni.

Conflict between Fatah and Hamas began simmering when Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006. Israel and the Quartet—comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations—demanded that the new Hamas government accept all previous agreements, recognize Israel's right to exist, and renounce violence; when Hamas refused, they cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority.^{[citation needed]}

Major conflict erupted in Gaza in December 2006, when the Hamas executive authority attempted to replace the Palestinian police as the primary authority in Gaza.

On 8 February 2007, Saudi-sponsored negotiations in Mecca produced an agreement on a Palestinian national unity government. The agreement was signed by Mahmoud Abbas on behalf of Fatah and Khaled Mashal on behalf of Hamas. The new government was called on to achieve Palestinian national goals as approved by the Palestine National Council, the clauses of the Basic Law and the National Reconciliation Document (the "Prisoners' Document") as well as the decisions of the Arab summit.

In March 2007, the Palestinian Legislative Council approved formation a national unity government with 83–3 vote. Government ministers were sworn in by Abbas, the president on the Palestinian National Authority, at ceremonies held in Gaza and Ramallah. In June that year, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip from the national unity government after forcing out Fatah.

On 14 June 2007, Abbas announced the dissolution of the former unity government and declared a state of emergency. He dismissed Ismail Haniyeh as prime minister and appointed Salam Fayyad in his place, giving him the task of building a new government. Nonetheless, Hamas rejected the decree of Abbas and said the Ismail Haniyeh government would remain in office and continue to function as the government of the Palestinian National Authority.