Fathi Hamad

Fathi Ahmad Muhammad Hammad is one of the leaders of the Hamas movement, a former Minister of the Interior, and a member of its Political Bureau. He was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on January 3, 1961, to a Palestinian family originating from the village of Barbara in the Gaza District. He holds a diploma in engineering drafting from the Qalandia Institute, a bachelor’s degree in social work from Al-Quds University, and a master’s degree in history from the Islamic University of Gaza. Hammad joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1980 and was active in its social and organizational activities. During his studies at the Qalandia Institute, he served as a member of the student council on behalf of the Islamic Bloc. In 1984, he joined the da‘wa and jihad apparatus “Majd,” the security wing of the Islamic movement. With the establishment of Hamas, he joined its ranks and operated within its “Ahdath” apparatus, which was responsible for carrying out terror activities against IDF forces and Israeli civilians during the First Intifada. In 1988, he was responsible for the military group in the Jabalia refugee camp, which was established by Salah Shehadeh. Several months after the outbreak of the First Intifada, he was arrested by Israel and was among Hamas’s first activists in Israeli prisons. He was interrogated and imprisoned between 1988 and 1994, and his home was demolished. Between 1996 and 2000, he was arrested several times by the security forces of the Palestinian Authority. He was involved in developing Hamas’s media network: he founded “Sawt al-Aqsa” Radio in 2002, Al-Aqsa TV in 2005, Al-Aqsa Satellite Channel in 2007, and the “Shehab” News Agency in 2008. In 2006, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council on behalf of Hamas’s “Change and Reform” list, and he founded the “Wa’ad” association for prisoners and released detainees. In 2009, he was appointed Minister of the Interior in the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, succeeding Said Siyam, who was killed in an Israeli strike, and he served in the position until 2014. In 2017 and 2021, he was elected as a member of Hamas’s Political Bureau. In 2016, he was placed on the U.S. government’s terrorism list.