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Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?


Posted August 2008
Think you have what it takes to join the Islamic resistance? Here’s how Hamas militants in Gaza have been spending their summer.



Class of 2008: Masked Palestinian fighters of the hard-line, Hamas-affiliated Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) line up during a military graduation ceremony on August 7 in the Gaza Strip. Around 50 militants graduated during the ceremony.

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Welcome to Hamastan: Hamas has ruled Gaza since June 2007, when its fighters seized control from Fatah, the rival faction led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Tensions rising: Fighting has broken out anew in recent days between Hamas and a Gaza clan affiliated with Fatah.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Under fire: Last Saturday, two members of Hamas and eight members of the clan died in the violence.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

On notice: Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defense Minister, has vowed to take the fight to Hamas in Gaza despite a shaky, month-long truce. Hamas says it is “prepared for all options.”

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Leap of faith: Israeli officials accuse Hamas of using the truce to smuggle weapons and prepare for a new round of escalation.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Where there’s smoke...: Hamas hard-liners say that Israel has not honored its obligations under the truce and warn that they may soon resort to military action.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Another round? “The Zionist occupation (Israel) has not yet agreed to the demand to release our prisoners so our fighters are preparing for the next round in which we will try to abduct more Israeli soldiers to swap them for our hero prisoners,” a PRC spokesman told Reuters.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Hanging by a thread: Israel and Fatah, meanwhile, have stepped up a campaign of arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank. Hamas has responded with arrests of Fatah members in Gaza.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Warning: Barak told Labor Party supporters Monday that “anyone who misses the military operations in Gaza mustn’t worry, they will come.”

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Touché: A Hamas spokesman said Tuesday that Barak’s comments were “stupid statements.”

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Finish line: A Hamas militant at the training course crawls under the wire.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

Collapse: Will the Gaza cease-fire fall apart?

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?

 

School’s out: Wearing T-shirts that say “the resistance” in Arabic, Hamas's newly minted fighters raise their weapons in a celebratory cheer. It looks increasingly likely that they will be using them soon.

 

Photo: Abid Katib/Getty Images



Photo Essay: Are You Tough Enough for Hamas Boot Camp?