An Islamic fatwa has condemned the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas treats millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip inhumanely. Islam forbids supporting Hamas, joining Hamas and praying for Hamas!” This is an unprecedented ruling against Hamas by one of the most important institutions in the Muslim world. Furthermore, the fatwa confirms what both the State of Israel and Israel Today have asserted for years: It is not Israel that is responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians, but rather their own leaders, Hamas most of all.

The Islamic Fatwa Council, a non-governmental organization of Shia, Sunni and other Muslim clergy based in the city of Najaf, Iraq, recently issued an Islamic ruling, called a fatwa, against the brutal Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. The members of the Islamic Fatwa Council called on Hamas to lay down their arms and finally make peace. The fatwa sees the Hamas regime as responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas bears responsibility for the corruption and terror against Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip. It is forbidden to pray, join, support, finance or fight for Hamas on behalf of Hamas.” A fatwa is a legal ruling issued by a Muslim authority upon request for the purpose of promoting a religious imperative or to resolve a legal problem that has arisen among adherents of Islam.

Hamas has a firm grip on the Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

“As an Islamic legal body, we take note of the plight of the oppressed around the world,” said Muhammad Ali Al-Maqdisi, a cleric at the council, in a video statement shared with Fox News Digital. “We have seen what Gaza suffered under Hamas rule. We have also seen the atrocities that we believe have been perpetrated against Palestinians — believers and unarmed civilians — who have neither power nor legal recourse. And so we felt it was our Islamic duty to help the oppressed.”

Over the years we have often published voices from the Gaza Strip speaking out against the Hamas regime. In talks with Israelis, a number of businessmen from the Gaza Strip who cooperate with Israeli colleagues complain about how bad the Hamas regime is. They hate Hamas, but this is not to be said out loud, and those who hear about it are mostly their Israeli friends and business associates with whom they trade in Israel. It is not the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip that is causing the Palestinians’ suffering, but the Hamas regime itself. As long as only Israel claims this, it sounds implausible, but as soon as an Islamic fatwa declares the same thing, then it sounds better.

Although the fatwa is not binding, it is very influential in the Muslim world. This fatwa comes after the release of a series of video testimonies by Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip published last month by the American Center for Peace Communications. “This is what our religion asks of us. Our faith, in its wisdom, commands us to be an enemy of the oppressor and a helper of the oppressed. This is why the fatwa against Hamas was issued.”

Tel Aviv City Hall is illuminated with the word “Peace” in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90

Al-Maqdisi added that it was time for Hamas to lay down their arms and seek peace. “I say to Hamas and its supporters: You have been taking up arms since 1948 – that is, for almost 75 years. During that time, thousands of innocents were killed. My advice is: why not take up the arms of peace and sit down at the table of dialogue? Seek peace.”

Hamas is officially a terrorist organization and has had a violent and iron grip on the Gaza Strip since 2007, two years after Israel unilaterally withdrew from the coastal enclave. Iran-funded and trained Hamas imposes a strict Islamic code on the more than two million Palestinians living there, while continuing to fight against Israel, which includes constant rocket fire on Jewish lands.