Israel literally funded Hamas so they could have a convenient enemy

Here's sources that I'd normally find unreliable on Israel because of their extreme bias in FAVOR of Netanyahu and the government in general but am linking by the "if even his own cheerleaders admit it, it must be true" reasoning as well as the added bonus that Zionists trust them for that reason:

New York Times

Times of Israel

Jerusalem Post

Here's some more generally reliable sources:

Haaretz

The Intercept

The Nation