Fathi Ahmad Hamad ( ar, فتحي أحمد حماد, also spelled Fathi Hammad; born 3 January 1961,

Beit Lahia Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya ( ar, بيت لاهيا) is a city in the Gaza Strip north of Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the 1949 Armistice Line with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of ...

, northern Gaza) is a political leader of

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...

, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. In April 2009, he was appointed Interior Minister in the Hamas administered

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, replacing

Said Seyam Said Seyam ( ar, سعيد صيام; 22 July 1959 – 15 January 2009), first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the interior minister of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined Hamas and became ...

who had been assassinated by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

during the 2008-09 Gaza War.''Hamas officially announces Fathi Hamad new Interior Minister''
Palestinian Press, 27 April 2009''New Hamas cabinet approved by lawmakers''
Ma'an, 27 August 2012 He ceased being Interior Minister in June 2014 on the formation of the Fatah-Hamas unity government. In September 2016, Hamad was designated a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

by the US State Department and added to its global terrorist list, meaning that US citizens and companies are banned from doing business with him, and any property he holds in areas under US jurisdiction are frozen.

Career

Hamad became a

-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006, representing his home town of

in northern Gaza. He also leads the Hamas Public Affairs Department and the chairman of al-Ribat Communications and Artistic Productions - a Hamas-run company which produces Hamas's radio station, Voice of al-Aqsa, its television station,

Al-Aqsa TV Al-Aqsa TV ( ar, قناة الأقصى) is a television channel run by Hamas, which is based in the Gaza Strip. Its programs include news and propaganda promoting Hamas, children's shows (such as ''Tomorrow's Pioneers'', that promotes violence ...

and its bi-weekly newspaper, ''The Message''. In 1983, Hammad joined the Muslim Brotherhood. He is the Founder and Vice President of Dar Al Quran. In November 2009, Waad, a Gaza charity headed by Hamad, offered a $1.4 million

bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...

to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts an Israeli soldier. While Palestinian militant groups have frequently called on Arab-Israelis to capture soldiers, this marked the first time money had been offered. A speech made by Hamad, broadcast on Al-Aqsa TV in February 2008, has been used as evidence by Israel and others that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups make use of

human shields A human shield is a non-combatant (or a group of non-combatants) who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it. The use of human shields as a resistance measure was popula ...

. In an interview which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on 14 December 2010 (as translated by

MEMRI The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI; officially the "Middle East Media and Research Institute") is a nonprofit press monitoring and analysis organization co-founded by former Israeli military intelligence officer Yigal Carmon an ...

), Hamad stated that Hamas receives support. In a speech broadcast on

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian Al-Helma TV on 23 March 2012, Hamad condemned Egypt over the fuel shortage in the Gaza Strip, and stated, "Half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis." In March 2018, it was reported that Hamad is a senior Hamas official who opposes reconciliation with Fatah, and urges a resumption of war against Israel. He has been implicated in the assassination attempt on prime minister

Rami Hamdallah Rami Hamdallah ( ar, رامي الحمد الله, Rāmī al-Ḥamd al-Lāh; born 10 August 1958) is a Palestinian politician and academic. He is the former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority and president of An-Najah Nationa ...

. In July 2019, Hamad urged members of the

Palestinian diaspora The Palestinian diaspora ( ar, الشتات الفلسطيني, ''al-shatat al-filastini''), part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine. History Palestinian individuals have a long history of ...

to kill "Jews everywhere". His comments were characterized as

incitement to genocide Incitement to genocide is a crime under international law which prohibits inciting (encouraging) the commission of genocide. An extreme form of hate speech, incitement to genocide is considered an inchoate offense and is theoretically subject t ...

Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is an American non-profit pro-Israel media-monitoring, research and membership organization. According to its website, CAMERA is "devoted to promoting accurate and balanced ...

and the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...

. His rhetoric was widely condemned by other Palestinians and he later stated that he supports the Hamas policy of only targeting Jews in Israel.

Personal

Hamad's ill three-year-old daughter was sent to

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

for medical treatment through the Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing. For initial medical treatment, she was first sent to

Barzilai Hospital Barzilai Medical Center ( he, מרכז רפואי ברזילי, ''Merkaz Refu'i Barzilai''; ar, مركز برزيلاي الطبي) is a 617-bed hospital in Ashkelon in southern Israel. The hospital serves a population of 500,000, including a ...

in the southern Israeli city of

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border wit ...

. Her subsequent transfer to Jordan was authorized by then Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak and the then IDF Chief of General Staff

Gabi Ashkenazi Gabriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi (; born 25 February 1954) is an Israeli politician and former military leader. He previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2007 to 2011. ...

, at the request of the Jordanian king

Abdullah Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamad, Fathi Ahmad Living people 1961 births Palestinian militants Hamas members People from the Gaza Strip Members of the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council Government ministers of the Gaza Strip Interior ministers of the Palestinian National Authority Palestinian politicians Mass media in the State of Palestine Palestinian Legislative Council Islamic University of Gaza alumni Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Individuals related to Iran Sanctions