The Palestinian militant group Hamas pledged to uphold a new cease-fire with Israel on Wednesday, but its enforcement of that truce may be complicated by other armed factions that have increasingly challenged Hamas's authority in Gaza in recent years.Main Palestinian Armed Forces in GazaHAMAS ("Islamic Resistance Movement")
- Formed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987 at the beginning of the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising)
- Its charter calls for replacing Israel with an Islamist Palestinian state
- Won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, ending the secular Fatah movement's dominance of parliament.
- Controls 10,000-20,000 fighters, around half belonging to its military wing and others providing internal security
- Established in 1980 by Muslim Brotherhood members
- Dedicated to replacing Israel with an Islamist Palestinian state.
- Controls about 1,000 fighters, making it the second strongest militant faction in Gaza.
- Fired rockets at Israel sporadically in recent years.
- Loose network emerged in Gaza since Hamas's 2007 takeover
- Range from dozens to hundreds of members linked mostly by clan and neighborhood
- Share al-Qaida's belief in global jihad and establishing a pan-Islamic caliphate
- Engaged in sporadic rocket fire on Israel, sometimes in defiance of Hamas orders to stop
- Militants allied to the secular Fatah movement
- Includes small factions such as the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades