By Vishu Adhana
Tel Aviv (Israel), December 1 : Israeli Defence Forces on Monday said it would be good if India recognises Hamas as a terrorist group.
Hamas, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, is a Palestinian Islamist organisation formed in 1987 during the First Intifada as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"It will be a good thing if India did. India and Israel have a common enemy. It will be good to have a clear statement on who we face," Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, International Spokesperson at IDF, told reporters here when asked. India still does not recognise Hamas as a terror group.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by several countries, including the US, UK, and Canada. Its ideology centres on armed resistance against Israel.
India has not formally designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation, though it has condemned the October 7, 2023, attacks and supported a two-state solution.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel, marking one of the deadliest days in the country's history. In the early hours of the morning, Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel by land, air, and sea after firing thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip. Militants breached Israel's high-security border fence using explosives, bulldozers, and motorised paragliders, overrunning Israeli towns, kibbutzim, and military posts.
The attack resulted in the killing of more than 1,200 people, including civilians, soldiers, and foreign nationals. Hamas gunmen carried out mass shootings, set homes on fire, and abducted more than 240 hostages, taking them back into Gaza. Videos and eyewitness accounts described widespread brutality, leading Israel to declare the assault its worst single-day terror attack.
Israel responded by launching a large-scale military offensive in Gaza aimed at dismantling Hamas's military and political infrastructure. The conflict rapidly expanded, resulting in extensive destruction, mass displacement, and a deepening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The October 7 attacks reshaped regional geopolitics, triggered global diplomatic activity, and intensified debates around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.