Abstract

This thesis examines the evolution of martyrdom ideology in Hamas's discourse between the
Second Intifada (2000–2005) and the period of genocidal violence following the Al-Aqsa Flood
operation of October 2023. Drawing on a primary corpus of Hamas communiqués, martyr posters
and video statements, and applying an integrated theoretical framework combining martyrdom as
ideological construct, necropolitics and grievability, the research conducts a systematic diachronic
discourse analysis across two historically distinct conjunctures. The central argument is that
Hamas's martyrdom ideology possibly underwent a transformation: from individual offensive
sacrifice-as-weapon, embodied in the figure of the istishhādī (one who seeks martyrdom), to
collective defensive endurance-as-resistance, structured around the triad of sumūd (steadfastness),
sabr (patience) and ribāṭ (guardianship of sacred territory). This shift reflects both the material
impossibility of replicating suicide operations under conditions of siege and the ideological
imperative to sustain meaning under mass death. The subject of martyrdom has been democratized,
from the exceptional male operative to al-sha'b (the people as a whole), while commemorative
practice has displaced the spectacular funeral procession as the primary site of martyrdom's
reproduction. The thesis contributes to English-language Hamas studies, martyrdom anthropology
and necropolitical theory by suggesting, from a limited corpus of material and English-language
sources, that martyrdom ideology is not fixed religious doctrine but a historically contingent,
adaptive formation responsive to changing conditions of colonial violence.