Executive Summary Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in the second intifada. Hamas has included his name at the top of their list of prisoners to be exchanged for hostages taken in the October 7,... MORE

Executive Summary Thailand has managed to secure the release of its 18 hostages from Hamas with the help of a Thai professor at al-Mustafa International University in Qom, who acted as a mediator. Thailand has avoided taking an explicitly critical position on Hamas, despite the... MORE

Executive Summary Central Asian governments have increased security at Israeli and Jewish sites and expressed neutrality on the Gaza conflict, but unrest could inspire extremist attacks. Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) propaganda has called for attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Uzbekistan, sharing... MORE

Executive Summary Globally, recent alleged Hamas-inspired attacks have lacked sophistication compared to past IS attacks or white nationalist shooters over the past decade. Even so, "lone wolves" motivated by news from Gaza pose an unpredictable threat. Recent examples of this include the several assaults that... MORE

Executive Summary Hamas deputy leader and head of the West Bank al-Qassam Brigades Saleh al-Arouri was killed in a January 2024 Israeli drone strike while meeting with Hezbollah. He is the senior most Hamas leader killed by Israel since the start of the war. Al-Arouri... MORE

Executive Summary: The US airstrike targeting terrorist bases in Iraq and Syria challenges Russia's Middle East dominance, prompting Moscow to reassess its strategic ties, especially with Israel. Moscow's unequivocal pro-Palestinian stance overlooks regional dynamics, alienating key players like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who oppose Hamas.... MORE

Executive Summary Nearly all of Gaza's 2.2 million people have been displaced by the current conflict, with Israel potentially considering “voluntary” resettlement plans for the Gazan population. Various Israeli officials have proposed several such plans for the removal of Gazans to other nations like the... MORE

Executive Summary The official reactions of key militant factions based in Pakistan and Afghanistan to the “al-Aqsa Storm” attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 reflected an interesting array of agendas and priorities. Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) issued an immediate response... MORE

Mousa Abu Marzouk is a founding member of Hamas, and is now one of its top diplomats and media personalities, though he was once a contender for the organization’s highest political office (Middle East Online, November 15, 2016; Al Jazeera, November 22). He is also... MORE

On October 7, Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, launched the “Al-Aqsa Flood” military operation. They did this in coordination with other Palestinian armed factions based in the Gaza Strip, which together belong to the “Palestinian Joint Operations Room (JOR).” [1] It was... MORE