The Islamic Resistance Movement founded in 1976 by Sheikh Yassin Ahmed (c.1938–2004), with the aim of creating an Islamic state in the former Palestine. Originally a non-militant organization, it became increasingly militant during the 1990s, launching terrorist attacks on Israeli targets. Opposed to the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which it regarded as a capitulation to Israel, Hamas carried out a series of suicide bombings in Israel from 1996. Its influence grew during the second intifada, during which Yassin was killed by an Israeli airstrike. In 2006 it won legislative elections for the Palestinian National Authority, replacing al-Fatah as the governing party. A unity government was briefly established in 2007, but this broke down in fighting that split the Palestinian territories, with Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and al-Fatah of the West Bank. An agreement to form another unity government was reached in 2014. Persistent Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli cities led Israel to launch air and ground operations against Gaza in 2014, causing the deaths of some 2000 civilians.