In a rare event in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, hundreds of Gazan citizens marched in the northern town of Beit Lahiya carrying white flags, calling to end the Hamas rule, and even calling to hand over the Israeli hostages.
The protests took place in front of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. One protester who filmed the events questioned where Qatari Al Jazeera and its Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif are, implicitly referring to the channel’s no criticism of Hamas policy.
Anti-Hamas protests in Gaza: short snippetsHere we can see hundreds of people, some holding a white flag, with the cameraman saying:”The people here are calling to free the ‘prisoners’ so we can remain alive… Hamas is demanding our people to remain steadfast. But how can we… pic.twitter.com/fnt6PjVtjc
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“The people are demanding the press to cover these events!” he said. “People are demanding freedom, they’re demanding a halt to the hostilities against Gaza, they’re demanding peace and an end to this war.” One of them said, “The press entered the hospital so as to not document this event.”
Slogans shouted in the protest included “Out out out! Hamas out!” and “Where is the press?” and “We want to live!” Signs held by protesters included slogans such as “We refuse to be the ones who die” and “Stop the war.”
Another video showed hundreds of marchers walking in the streets of Beit Lahiya, with the cameraman saying: “Large crowds are protesting now against the rule of Hamas. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The people here are calling to free the prisoners so we can remain alive,” possibly referring to the remaining Israeli hostages.
“Hamas is demanding our people to remain steadfast. But how can we remain steadfast when we’re dying and bleeding? Hamas must stop what is happening in Gaza… We’re sending a message to the entire world: We reject the rule of Hamas.”
‘We will be the ones who decide who is in control’
One speaker at the protest proclaimed: “Our message now is that we are a people of peace. We demand a secure peace for this town, and not to live under the steel and fire here. We will be the ones who decide who is in control in this town. We live under harsh conditions, so everyone must stand up to any foreign actors who want to destroy the destiny of this nation… We say: yes to peace, no to the tyrant rule which threatens the destiny of our people.”
Another video saw the cameraman commenting, “Rivers of people are marching to end the rule of Hamas and stop the war on Gaza.”
Though extremely rare, this is not the first time an anti-Hamas protest takes place in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip since the war began, as January 2024 saw what appeared to have been smaller and more sporadic events.
Likewise, some of these slogans are reminiscent of the “Bidna N’eesh” (“We Want to Live”) movement, which led similar protests in 2020 and 2023, and which some suspected to have been coordinated by Hamas’s rival faction, Fatah. In all cases so far, Hamas acted quickly and brutally to suppress these demonstrations.
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