Hamas won a plurality (44%) - not a majority - of the votes in the last elections in 2006. They subsequently launched a coup, sought to purge their political opponents and have ruled the Gaza Strip as a de facto dictatorship ever since. The people of Gaza have spent the last 17 years suffering from the combination of a Hamas dictatorship and a full land, sea and air blockade by the Israeli military.
So to answer your question: Hamas gunmen put Hamas in power.
Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem remain occupied territories under international law since the 1967 Israeli conquests.
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Hamas won a plurality (44%) - not a majority - of the votes in the last elections in 2006. They subsequently launched a coup, sought to purge their political opponents and have ruled the Gaza Strip as a de facto dictatorship ever since. The people of Gaza have spent the last 17 years suffering from the combination of a Hamas dictatorship and a full land, sea and air blockade by the Israeli military.
So to answer your question: Hamas gunmen put Hamas in power.
Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem remain occupied territories under international law since the 1967 Israeli conquests.
Strange, but true: Israel created and empowered Hamas.