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Hamas shocked the world with its devastating attack on October 7. The invasion of Israel was well planned and well resourced in terms of weapons and military power.
But where and how does Hamas recruit its members?
Sky News spoke to Dr Matthew Levitt, a fellow at the Washington Institute and director of its counter-terrorism and intelligence programme, to get some answers. Dr Levitt first explained that there are variations in recruitment strategies across the Palestinian territories.
In the West Bank, Hamas operates as it has for years - with a cell-based structure, with most of its recruitment taking place in religious settings - such as mosques. However, he added that there is a different story in Gaza.
"In the Gaza Strip, they are able to recruit in a much more formal and structured way for a variety of different types of military security and intelligence services ," he said.
With generation control since 2007, recruitment has become much easier, which in turn has allowed for the creation of comprehensive security, militant and intelligence structures. In Gaza, Hamas doesn't need to rely on people who hold one-sided ideological views, as people will work for them anyway because that's the way things are.
" If you are employed by Hamas, you may also have other types of benefits from social welfare networks ," he said.
So not only are there incentives to join, but warnings for those who don't, Dr Levitt explained.
" There is also a tremendous amount of intimidation within the Gaza Strip against those who are still brave enough to publicly associate themselves with Fatah or other [Palestinian] factions ," he said.
Dr Levitt noted the rise of Hamas cells in southern Lebanon. He said Hamas has had a presence in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon for some time, but that the militant elements emerging among them was something new.
" They had long been recruiting in those camps for dominance within them - political influence within the camps themselves. Now, they are also recruiting for real operatives to do things in southern Lebanon. This is done in very close coordination with Hezbollah, " he said./ SkyNews
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