JQ264 - July 2026
Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages
For almost twenty years, Hamas ruled Gaza and prepared for a battle that it knew it could not win. But the group made a cold calculation: its path to victory rested on sacrificing the lives and livelihoods of the 2.2 million people of Gaza.
In this gripping account of Hamas and its motivations, Gazan writer Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib charts the rise of the group and its repressive rule as it turned the enclave into a staging ground for combat. He reflects on his and his family's experiences, and on how Hamas's destructive leadership has set back the hopes and prospects of his people.
Hamas and Its Two million Hostages provides crucial insights into the state of Hamas following its devastating war with Israel, including an assessment of the future of the group and how to ensure it can no longer control the people of Gaza.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is a Gazan writer and advocate, founder of Realign for Palestine and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council based in Washington, DC. He writes analysis and commentary for publications such as The Atlantic and Foreign Policy and appears regularly in US and international media. He can be found at @afalkhatib.
About The Jewish Quarterly
The Jewish Quarterly has cultivated literary journalism of the highest standard for almost seventy years. It is an independent publication that explores Jewish issues, and issues of humanity from a Jewish perspective.
In 2021, The Jewish Quarterly has relaunched and will be distributed and accessible worldwide. It has been redesigned and published in an elegant book format. Each issue features a major political or cultural theme, investigated in long-form essays by prominent voices from around the world.
JQ’s mission is not to advocate, but to investigate complex and pressing matters of politics, religion, history and culture, and to do so in depth.