Declared a terrorist menace yet voted into government in a free election, Hamas then used its Gaza power base to launch cross-border attacks that scorched Israel and transformed the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How did a small Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood grow to challenge long-established rivals such as the PLO? Who supports Hamas and what is its agenda? How powerful has it become and how strong will it remain? This illuminating study provides insightful answers to these pressing questions. With decades of combined experience researching and reporting from the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Jerusalem, and around the Middle East, Milton-Edwards and Farrell gained unrivalled access to Hamas. They draw on years of frontline reporting and interviews with members of the group's founding generation - and their successors who now lead it - to trace Hamas' path to the shocking attacks of 07 October 2023 and their devastating aftermath. Its critics believe Hamas must be ousted to reach a solution to the Middle East conflict. Hamas's supporters believe it is the solution. Nobody now believes it can be ignored.