Palestinians protest Hamas in a rare public show of dissent in Gaza

Thousands of Palestinians marched between the wreckage of a heavily destroyed town in northern Gaza on Wednesday in the second day of anti-war protests, with many chanting against Hamas in a rare display of public anger against the terrorist group.

The protests, which centered mainly on Gaza’s north, appeared to be aimed generally against the war, with protesters calling for an end to 17 months of deadly fighting with Israel that has made life in Gaza insufferable.

But protesters also leveled unusually direct and public criticism of Hamas, which has quashed dissent violently in the past in Gaza, a territory it still rules months into the war with Israel.

In the town of Beit Lahiya, where a similar protest took place Tuesday, about 3,000 people demonstrated, with many chanting “the people want the fall of Hamas.” In the hard-hit Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, dozens of men chanted “Out, out out! Hamas get out!”

Ammar Hassan, who took part in a protest Tuesday, said it started as an anti-war protest with a few dozen people but swelled to more than 2,000, with people chanting against Hamas.

The terrorist group has violently cracked down on previous protests. This time no outright intervention was apparent, perhaps because Hamas is keeping a lower profile since Israel resumed its war against it.

A similar protest occurred in the heavily destroyed area of Jabaliya on Tuesday, according to witnesses.

One protester in Jabaliya, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said they joined the demonstration because “everyone failed us.”

They said they chanted against Israel, Hamas, the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and Arab mediators. They said there were no Hamas security forces at the protest but scuffles broke out between supporters and opponents of the group.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz urged Palestinians to join the protests.

“You too should demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages. That is the only way to stop the war,” he said.

The protests erupted a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise wave of strikes. Earlier this month, Israel halted deliveries of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns the 59 hostages it still holds — 24 of them believed to be alive. Israel is also demanding that the group give up power, disarm and send its leaders into exile.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The war was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack into Israel, in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.

Hamas won a landslide victory in the last Palestinian elections, held in 2006. It seized power in Gaza from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, dominated by the secular Fatah movement, the following year after months of factional unrest and a week of heavy street battles.

Rights groups say both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas violently suppress dissent, quashing protests in the areas they control and jailing and torturing critics.