In a rare and dangerous public show of anger against Hamas, hundreds of Palestinians marched through Beit Lahia in the north of Gaza this week, asking that the militant group renounces the control of the territory and ends the war with Israel, according to four witnesses.
Wednesday’s march seemed to be the last of a handful of these protests that broke out in the last two weeks, despite Hamas’ efforts to suppress dissent with threats and strength shows. Witnesses said it was the first of the protests to Beit Lahia that women joined, some bringing their children.
As a whole, the events, although small and dispersed, represent the most serious challenge for the 18 -year -old rule of Hamas by the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. The overwhelming Israeli response that followed has made the territory and residents to pieces, killing tens of thousands. The bloodshed of blood filmed after Israel had closed a ceased agreement of two months in mid -March, citing Hamas’s refusal to accept Israeli requests.
The Palestinians began to march about a week later in Beit Lahia, an agricultural community in the northernmost part of Gaza, and then in other parts of the Enclave. The protests lasted three days before appearing.
Activists published on social media this week ask for new gatherings. The demonstrators gathered in the main square of Beit Laia and marched towards another square, said the demonstrators in the interviews. They gave different estimates of the size of the rally, from about 1,000 to 1,500.
“We have lost our homes, our loved ones, our hope and our future. Enough is enough,” Abeer Al-Radeea, 34 years old, said a housewife who said he went to Wednesday’s event with his husband and children. “We ask Hamas to stop and leave us. We don’t know when it will end, but we want peace and democracy.”
The march went on despite Hamas’ widespread fear of Gaza, who in the past has violently reduced to the challenges to his domain. After the recent protests, however, Hamas’s response appeared quieter, reflecting what analysts have said was the fear of the group to further inflame an already angry population and its reduced ability to mobilize the forces, with thousands of members killed and with Israeli drones and war planes at the top.
But Hamas’s threat of punishment remains.
On Friday, one of the demonstrators, ODAY al-Rabi, 22 years old, was kidnapped during the night by the agents of Hamas by a refuge for the displaced people in the city of Gaza, according to his brother Hassan.
Hassan, 32, said he received a call after his brother from the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City. He said ODAY was bruised, bloody and barely able to walk or speak.
“The body of all his brother was blood,” he said, adding that Hamas’s agents were dragging him with a leash. “It was as if I didn’t know him.”
The agents said that anyone “cursed” met the same fate as Hamas, said Hassan. He brought his brother to another nearby hospital, but ODAY died a few hours later.
Hassan said he believed that his brother had been targeted both because of his participation in protests and for his history of criticism of Hamas. About a month ago, ODAY was attacked by a group of members of Hamas, but ran away when he pulled a knife on them, Hassan said.
Hamas officials and government spokespersons managed by Hamas in Gaza did not respond to requests for comment.
Wednesday protesters included Raed Al-Masri, 44, who said that the masked members of Hamas had been stationed on some corners, with truncheon and sticks.
Two days after a previous protest, the internal security force managed by Hamas in Gaza convened Sharif Al-Buheisi, 56 years old, in a tent in the courtyard of the Al Aqsa Martyr Hospital in the center of Gaza. Al-Buheisi is an activist of Hamas’ rival political faction, and has worked as administrator of the University of Al-Azhar in the city of Gaza before the war.
Two officers handed over a threat, suggesting that he would regret having participated in future protests, said Al-Buheisi in a telephone interview.
“This is not the time for protests: they are stabbing the resistance in the back,” said Al-Buheisi. “If you go out again, the result won’t be fine.”
After consulting his family, Al-Buheisi said he decided to stay away from further protests. He was a bitter reminder, he said, of how civilians in Gaza were trapped.
“We are persecuted by both sides,” he said. “Israel bombs without mercy and Hamas doesn’t matter if we die.”
Al-Masri said that many of his cousins had also received Hamas threats after recent gears. One received a phone call from a private number that summoned him on Tuesday with Hamas’ security officials, who asked him about his involvement, asked for supporters and protest organizers and forced him to sign a document saying that he would stop protesting, said Al-Masri.
Others have ignored these calls.
At the protest on Wednesday, many demonstrators were pushed by hunger in March, the participants said. Israel blocked the help of entering Gaza for a month, forcing the bakeries to close, the markets to empty and help groups cut the distribution of food. The residents of Gaza say that what the product remains is exorbitantly expensive.
A child at Wednesday’s event shouted that he wanted something to eat, said Mrs. Al-Radeea. Another protester raised a piece of onion, shouting that he had eaten only onions and radishes for more than a week, he said Basem Hamouda, 47 years old, a farmer who was there.
For their despair, the demonstrators have blamed Israel, but also Hamas.
“Those who cannot provide their people with a loaf of bread do not have the right to start a war in the name of liberation,” said Hamouda.
He and others said that Hamas should do a better job in holding food prices by preventing traders from accumulating supplies, a complaint common in Gaza.
“Hamas gave Israel a pretext to continue this war, unable to regulate and control market prices,” he added. “This is the real cause behind these protests.”
Amera Harouda Reports contributed by Doha, Qatar.