Editing Hamas (section)

===Rocket attacks on Israel===
{{see also|Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel}}
{{Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel}}
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have launched thousands of rockets into Israel since 2001, killing 15 civilians, wounding many more, and posing an ongoing threat to the nearly 800,000 Israeli civilians who live and work in the weapons' range. Hamas officials have said that the rockets were aimed only at military targets, saying that civilian casualties were the "accidental result" of the weapons' poor quality. According to [[Human Rights Watch]], statements by Hamas leaders suggest that the purpose of the rocket attacks was indeed to strike civilians and civilian objects. From January 2009, following [[Operation Cast Lead]], Hamas largely stopped launching rocket attacks on Israel and has on at least two occasions arrested members of other groups who have launched rockets, "showing that it has the ability to impose the law when it wants".<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/en/node/89574/section/3 HRW report] 11 April 2010</ref> In February 2010, Hamas issued a statement regretting any harm that may have befallen Israeli civilians as a result of Palestinian rocket attacks during the Gaza war. It maintained that its rocket attacks had been aimed at Israeli military targets but lacked accuracy and hence sometimes hit civilian areas. Israel responded that Hamas had boasted repeatedly of targeting and murdering civilians in the media.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Al-Mughrabi, Nidal|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6141LC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101030958/http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6141LC|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 January 2016|title=Hamas "regrets" civilian deaths, Israel unmoved|publisher=[[Reuters]]|date=5 February 2010}}</ref>

According to one report, commenting on the 2014 conflict, "nearly all the 2,500–3,000 rockets and mortars Hamas has fired at Israel since the start of the war seem to have been aimed at towns", including an attack on "a kibbutz collective farm close to the Gaza border", in which an Israeli child was killed.<ref name="Training Manual">{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Luke|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-gaza-hamas-document-idUSKBN0GO0D120140824|title=Israel says it found Hamas training manual in Gaza|publisher=Reuters|date=24 August 2014|access-date=25 August 2014|archive-date=24 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824134841/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/24/us-mideast-gaza-hamas-document-idUSKBN0GO0D120140824|url-status=live}}</ref> Former Israeli Lt. Col. Jonathan D. Halevi stated that "Hamas has expressed pride in aiming long-range rockets at strategic targets in Israel including the nuclear reactor in Dimona, the chemical plants in Haifa, and Ben-Gurion Airport", which "could have caused thousands" of Israeli casualties "if successful".<ref>{{cite web|last=Halevi|first=Jonathan D.|url=http://jcpa.org/hamas-threat-no-different-from-isis/|title=The Hamas Threat to the West Is No Different from ISIS|work=Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs |publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs|date=4 August 2014|access-date=25 August 2014}}</ref>

In July 2008, [[Barack Obama]], then the Democratic presidential candidate, said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."<ref>Steven Lee Myers and Helene Cooper, [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/washington/29diplo.html Obama Defers to Bush, for Now, on Gaza Crisis], New York Times 28 December 2009</ref> On 28 December 2008, Secretary of State [[Condoleezza Rice]] said in a statement: "the United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel."<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473167,00.html U.S. Condemns Hamas in Midst of Israeli Strikes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625060725/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473167,00.html |date=25 June 2013}}, Fox News 28 December 2008</ref> On 2 March 2009, Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] condemned the attacks.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090307170418/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gid-B97gmhLgqf8brVLEKN46E-Lw Clinton calls for 'durable' Gaza truce, condemns rockets], AFP 2 March 2009</ref>

On 7 October 2023, Hamas claimed responsibility for a barrage of missile attacks originating from the Gaza Strip.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-07/israel-targets-hamas-military-operation-rocket-attacks/102947766 |title='We are at war': Palestinian militants launch new military operation, Israel strikes targets in Gaza |publisher=ABC News |date=7 October 2023}}</ref>