General information
Part of Conflict: n/a
First Battle Related Death: 1991-09-22
Date when dyad reached 25 battle releated deaths: 2006-10-01
Comment on date when dyad reached 25 battle related deaths: The non-state conflict between Fatah and Hamas is first included in UCDP datasets in 2006. On 1 October that year approximately 9 combatants were killed in clashes in Gaza City, raising the death toll above the 25 battle-related deaths threshold.
Conflict issues
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
1991
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 2 |
| Best | 2 |
| Low | 2 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
1992
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 2 |
| Best | 2 |
| Low | 2 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
2002
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 2 |
| Best | 2 |
| Low | 2 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
2006
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 46 |
| Best | 36 |
| Low | 36 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
2007
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 254 |
| Best | 235 |
| Low | 233 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
2008
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 18 |
| Best | 18 |
| Low | 16 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
2016
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
2018
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
2025
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Fatah): n/a
Side B (Hamas): n/a
Dyad Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
1991 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
1992 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
2002 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
2006 Dyad Archive
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: It is highly likely that the true figures for Fatah-Hamas clashes are higher than the figures given above. The fighting is however characterized at many times by difficulties in establishing the perpetrators of violence and killings, making many events unclear in the coding.
Comment on Active: Fatah-Hamas clashes yielded a total of 25 deaths on 1 October 2006, following a year of extremely tense relations. On this date clashes between AMB militants and PNA security forces on one side and Hamas ‘Executive Force’ members on the other, took place all over the Gaza Strip, leaving between 9 and 16 people dead. The dead were militants as well as innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire in these street battles.
The initiating factor in the Fatah-Hamas conflict was the ousting from the Palestinian National Authority of Fatah in the Palestinian elections, and the majority of legislative seats this gave to Hamas. As the security forces of the PNA were dominated by Fatah affiliates the transition to Hamas’ rule was not an easy one, and the situation was compounded by the increasingly difficult economic situation brought on by the Western states’ economic blockade of the Palestinian authorities. Tensions subsequently grew, and the power struggle finally exploded when Hamas began to employ its ‘own’ security force in the Gaza Strip, known as the ‘Executive Force’. Clashes that ensued pitted the various militias and security forces of Hamas against equally varying support groups of Fatah. The modus operandi for the fighting was running street battles with automatic weapons, as well as kidnappings and assassinations of prominent local leaders of the other’s organisation. Arab states attempted to mediate in the conflict and pressed the two warring parties to create a unity government; a coalition between Hamas and Fatah legislators, but these efforts failed. As 2006 drew to a close the Palestinian territories, mainly the Gaza Strip, were wrecked by turmoil and intra-Palestinian clashes.
Terminated: NO
2007 Dyad Archive
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: It is not completely clear how many casualties the two groups suffered in fighting. News reporting of the heaviest fighting in June often gives casualty figures only, without stating how many were Fatah, Hamas or civilian. Fatah lost at least 50 fighters, and Hamas at least 30.
Comment on Active: Fatah-Hamas rivalry continued throughout 2007, peaking in Hamas take-over of the Gaza Strip in mid-July.
Small-scale street battles continued from 2006 into early 2007, with some 30 casualties being recorded in the first month of the year. This intra-Palestinian fighting worried the neighbouring Arab states, which sought to reconcile the two parties. Saudi Arabia subsequently brought the parties together in early February, in order to make them reach an agreement on a government of unity. In essence the mediator sought a power-sharing agreement which would also allow the government of unity to adhere to the Quartets requirements for the resumption of aid to the Palestnian National Authority.
Hamas and Fatah signed the Mecca Agreement, but the vague formulations in the agreement failed to acquiesce the international community, and the blockade in essence remained. The agreement stopped fighting between the two groups (temporarily), but mutual suspicion between them led to difficulties in cooperation. Analysts have pointed to one specific flaw in the agreement; the absence of true power sharing in the security sector. Both groups controlled large military/security forces, but were unwilling to cede control of their respective militias.
Sporadic clashes continued throughout March and in May, and reforms in the security sector met intransigence and shows of power in both camps. The clashes peaked in the mid-June take-over by Hamas of the Gaza Strip. Coordinated attacks on the security institutions controlled by Fatah led Hamas to a swift victory, effectively splitting the Palestinian territories into two entities. The Gaza Strip came to be controlled by Hamas, and the West Bank by Fatah, with two different administrations that both claimed that the other was illegitimate. The Fatah-dominated government in the West Bank received international endorsement, whilst the Hamas government was further isolated by the international community.
Hamas for its parts claimed that actions against Fatah were carried out not against the movement as such, but against a "coupist" current within it, which sought to oust Hamas and control the Palestinian administration. Supposedly, one of the leaders of this current was Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah strong-man who was prominent in the Palestinian security forces. The take-over of Gaza was thus carried out in self-defence.
Fatah in turn claimed that Hamas had committed a coup, so as to grab power for itself. They supported this claim by pointing to the coordinated action taken by Hamas militants, deemed to be a sure sign that the whole thing had been meticulously planned.
Heavy fighting took place in the Gaza Strip, where Fatah was overrun by the numerous and highly motivated forces of Hamas. In the West Bank, Fatah had no trouble in disrupting the weak Hamas foothold in these territories. Between July and December only small-scale clashes took place as both groups cemented their control over their respective territories.
As of the end of 2007 Hamas-Fatah rivalry thus reached a new level, with both groups claiming to be the true Palestinian government and the control over the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian territories being at the heart of the conflict.
Terminated: NO
2008 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
2016 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
2018 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
2025 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
