Sefydlwyd Hamas yn 1987 gan Ahmed Yassin a Mohammad Taha ar gychwyn yr Intifada Cyntaf ar y Lan Orllewinol fel cangen o'r Frawdoliaeth Fwslimaidd, mudiad o'r Aifft.[13][14]. Mae Hamas yn tarddu o'r anfodlonrwydd ag arweinyddiaeth y PLO yn y cyfnod hwnnw. Tyfodd o'r mudiad Mujama, plaid wleidyddol a gefnogwyd gan Israel ar y dechrau fel gwrthbwys i'r PLO. Daeth Hamas i rym mewn etholiad democrataidd yn Ionawr 2006 gan ennill mwyafrif y gynrychiolaeth ar Awdurdod Cenedlaethol Palesteina a threchu'r PLO a Fatah.[15][16]
Yn ôl y Minnesota Daily, yn 2006 roedd 'Hamas yn adnabyddus ymhlith Palestiniaid am eu hysbytai, eu systemau addysg, eu llyfrgelloedd a'u gwasanaethau cymdeithasol.'[17].[18]
"Country reports on terrorism 2005", United States Department of State. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. US Dept. of State Publication 11324. Ebrill 2006. tud 196
Higgins, Andrew (January 24, 2009). "How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas". The Wall Street Journal. Archifwyd o'r gwreiddiol ar September 26, 2009. Cyrchwyd January 25, 2023. When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank. 'When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a mistake,' says David Hacham, who worked in Gaza in the late 1980s and early '90s as an Arab-affairs expert in the Israeli military. 'But at the time nobody thought about the possible results.' Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the group's recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. 'Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons,' Mr. Olmert said last Saturday. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran.
[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-02-fg-charity2-story.html latimes.com; Los Angeles Times; 'Hamas Victory Is Built on Social Work'; Dyfyniad: Hamas has been very good at compartmentalizing their activities -- where they have a soup kitchen, for example, they simply give soup, nothing more,” said Mouin Rabbani of the International Crisis Group, which studied Islamic social activism in the occupied territories... “The Palestinian Authority has to reach everyone, and in a situation of closures, unemployment reaching unprecedented figures, and in an environment in which you are constantly being undermined, these services are obligatory,” said Issam Younis, director of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City.
“Hamas has done its homework. Over the years, they have established very good social services, they have the maximum use of the mosque,” he said. “And it will be good to have Hamas in the government. Welcome! But think of the situation. Adalwyd 21 Awst 2024.