Belal Abu Zaid, a Palestinian from northern Gaza, took to the streets alongside hundreds of others on Tuesday to protest against Israel\u2019s war and the Palestinian militant group Hamas \u2013 both of which he blames for bringing destruction to the enclave. <\/p>\n
Israel, he says, is primarily to blame for Gaza\u2019s misery, but Hamas also carries responsibility. <\/p>\n
Palestinians demonstrated against Hamas in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, on Tuesday, in what appeared to be the largest protest against the militant group since the October 7 attacks. <\/p>\n
A message shared on social media appeared to call for nine anti-war and anti-Hamas demonstrations across Gaza on Wednesday, with the protest organizers saying, \u201cour voices must reach all the spies who sold our blood.\u201d <\/p>\n
More than 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attacks on Israel and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Israel\u2019s subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry there, flattened large swathes of the territory and spurred a devastating humanitarian crisis. <\/p>\n
The death toll in the enclave has surged in recent days following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire, with Israel relaunching its ground operation in Gaza and pledging to intensify its operations. The crisis has been compounded by Israel\u2019s decision to halt all aid from entering the enclave. <\/p>\n
Many Palestinians who don\u2019t support Hamas often refrain from criticizing it publicly, fearing social ostracization, as the militant group is seen by some as the only party actively resisting Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian land. Others hide their support for the group, wary of being targeted by Israel. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe people\u2019s voices must come before the sound of gunpowder,\u201d Abu Hamouda said, adding that Palestinians should have one unified government that can receive international and regional support. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have long wanted to protest,\u201d he said. Many were reluctant, however, fearing \u201clack of protection\u201d on the streets and \u201caccusations of treason\u201d by other Palestinians, he added. <\/p>\n
Abu Hamouda also worried that the Israeli government might take advantage of the protests, which would undermine their movement. <\/p>\n
In a Wednesday speech at Israel\u2019s parliament, the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the Gaza protests, saying this \u201cshows that our policy is working.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent days, we have seen something we\u2019ve never seen before \u2013 open protests in the Gaza Strip against Hamas rule,\u201d Netanyahu said. <\/p>\n
An Islamist organization with a military wing, Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007, after it beat rival political party Fatah in elections and expelled the Palestinian Authority from the enclave. The group first came into being in 1987. It was an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group that was founded in the late 1920s in Egypt. <\/p>\n
Israel, under international law, has been the occupying power in Gaza since long before the October 7 attack, as it has always controlled the points of entry and exit. Hamas, like most Palestinian factions and political parties, says that it is trying to liberate the Palestinian territories. <\/p>\n
Hamas is designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Israel. <\/p>\n
Hamas\u2019 Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza has said that anti-Hamas slogans chanted at a demonstration on Tuesday were \u201cspontaneous\u201d and \u201cdo not reflect the general national position.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Hamas office said Palestinians\u2019 right to express their opinions and participate in peaceful demonstrations is a \u201clegitimate right, and an essential part of the national values we believe in and defend,\u201d adding that the protests were reflective of the \u201ctremendous pressure and daily massacres our people are subjected to.\u201d <\/p>\n
Abdullah Ahmed, an activist from Jabalia, said there are concerns Hamas will crack down on protests if they continue. <\/p>\n
Ahmed said that pressure has nonetheless mounted on Gazans, and that many were further devastated to return north and find their homes turned to rubble. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy now? Because people are squeezed.\u201d <\/p>\n
Then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in January that \u201cHamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it is lost.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cEach time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas militants regroup and re-emerge because there\u2019s nothing else to fill the void,\u201d he said at in a speech at the Atlantic Council just days before his term as top US diplomat came to an end. <\/p>\n
Gazans\u2019 support for the October 7 attack appears to have oscillated in recent months. A survey conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said in June that 57% of Gazans believed that the attack was the right decision, down from 71% just three months earlier. <\/p>\n
As the war has dragged on, living conditions have only deteriorated further in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Asked whether he feared retribution from Hamas for protesting, Abu Zaid said it is hard to fear persecution when the enclave is rampant with suffering. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no more fear. Death can happen at any minute, we\u2019ve seen death with our eyes,\u201d he said. \u201cThe smell of blood is everywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cEnough war, enough exhaustion, enough humiliation.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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