Ghazan protest against Hamas and the war for the second day

The Palestinians in Gaza protested the war The second day in a row On Wednesday, slogans were received against Hamas, frustrating and angry because of the collapse of the ceasefire with Israel, who were always hoping to become.

The protests were rare shows of the opposition against Hamas, the armed group that ruled Gaza for 17 years with an iron fist and began a 15 -month war by leading the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Wednesday’s protests spread to parts of Gaza more than Tuesday, according to a video on social media and witnesses.

Most of the demonstrations were small so far. But it seems that the most important of them on Tuesday and Wednesday in the northern town of Beit Lahia, severely affected by hundreds of people, according to witnesses. The crowd numbers cannot be independently verified, although videos showed important gatherings.

The smaller protests were held on Wednesday in Gaza City, as well as in the north, and in at least two locations in the center of Gaza-Nawwihara and Deir Al-Bala. One of the participants in Deir Al -Bala said that approximately 300 people participated in the protest there, without the presence of a clear enthusiasm.

Some Ghazan says that the protests started as a spontaneous flow of emotion, but there were indications on Wednesday that they had become more organized. Over the past two days, there has been a noticeable increase in invitations on social media from the Palestinians inside Gaza to go out to the streets and demonstrated against Hamas rule and its behavior of the war with Israel.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered for the second consecutive day in Beit Lahia, and some chant “Hamas outside! Hamas is terrorism!” And “we want to live freely.” There was another smaller protest in Gaza City, also in the north, with chants against Hamas.

Videos from the protests on Tuesday, which were verified by the New York Times, showed groups of Ghazan in the streets of Beit Lahia, which is made by half. Some carried signs that oppose the continuation of the war, while others chanted slogans calling for Hamas to go out.

Lulu, 38, from Gaza City in the north, who is now referring to the southern city of Khan Yunis, said on Wednesday that he heard about the protest in the Beit Lahia the day before and began contacting political activists anti -Hamas to invite more social protests and social media.

He said: “I can tell you hundreds of response to” yes! We join you. ”He added,“ Many individuals who are members of the large families join the protests. ”

“Our demands are clear: ending the war at any cost,” he said. “We want to live,” our slogan. “This time is different, I think. We have nothing to lose at all. We have already lost everything, so we are not afraid. “

There have been a few signs so far from any attempt by Hamas to eliminate the power on the protests, as the group did in the past.

Hamas, for its part, is trying to direct the Palestinian anger towards Israel. In a statement posted on Telegram on Wednesday, Hamas told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Israel, “bearing full responsibility for the failure of” a ceasefire agreement.

“All people have the right to scream to pain and raise their voices,” said Bassem Nayem, a senior Hamas official, in a social media post on Wednesday. But he warned against exploiting the “tragic human circumstances” of the political agenda or exempting the “criminal aggressor”, and this means Israel.

Ghazan, at least publicly, tends to blame Israel for most of the death, destruction and hunger brought by the war. But at least some enthusiasm is also responsible for the war who started the war, to hold the hostages and continue to fight rather than abandoning its strength in exchange for a ceasefire.

Islam Rafat, a 21 -year -old student from Beit Lahia, said that he joined the protests “to an extent to war and end the genocide in Gaza, and nothing more than that.” He said that some of those who joined the protests were issuing political statements, but they originally went out to call for war.

He added: “I certainly see children lined up for several hours for food often running out.”

The two -month ceasefire with Israel has led to the first sustainable rest period of more than a year of continuous bombing and a ground war. Almost all of Gaza residents – more than two million people – were displaced during the war, and the Israeli attack killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Israel abandoned the armistice last week and resumed its bombing in Gaza in an attempt to pressure Hamas to liberate more remaining hostages who are still being held in the region.

The leaders of the prominent Palestinian tribes and families in southern Gaza, who oppose Hamas, issued a joint statement on Wednesday calling on the Palestinians in the region to “launch a popular uprising against injustice” and protest against Hamas.

The statement said: “Hamas must raise its hand from Gaza immediately and end this unjust siege imposed on us because of the decisions that do not represent us.”

He added: “We all invite you to the streets and make our voice heard.” “Gaza is not hostage by anyone. Gaza will be liberated with the will of its people.”

Abdel Hamid Abed Al -Atti, a Palestinian journalist and a former radio host who fled from Beit Lahia to Egypt during the war, called to the extent of Hamas’s rule in Gaza.

“It is sufficient – after a year and a half of the war,” he said in a video that he watched widely.

Mr. Obaid Al -Otti, who said that he lost many family members because of the Israeli attacks during the war, said that Ghazan was protesting from an overwhelming sense of anger after a lot of loss and destruction.

He added in a phone call: “This was spontaneous.” “These days, Ghazan left nothing to lose.”

Amin Abed, a Palestinian activist from Gaza, who spent the first part of the war in Gaza and was evacuated to the United Arab Emirates for medical treatment in September last year, said that the main demand for demonstrators is to step down Hamas.

“People are exhausted,” Mr. Obaid told the New York Times in an interview on Wednesday. He added: “They want to live in peace, safety and stability, away from war and death. They want dignity.”

“This movement is evidence,” said Mr. Obaid. “It refutes the Israeli narration that all Gaza is Hamas.”

Months Al -Hayek, a spokesman for the Palestinian Fatah faction, a Hamas competitor, called for “listening to the voice of our people and withdrawing from the government” in Gaza. He spoke in an interview with the Palestinian radio on Wednesday, he said that Hamas should hand over the authority to the Palestinian authority dominated by Fatah, which govern parts of the West Bank occupied by the Israeli.

Mr. Al -Hayek said that the presence of Hamas “has become dangerous to the Palestinian issue,” adding that the movement should listen to the voices arising in Gaza and save the worn population.

Mr. Netanyahu also took note of the protests in Gaza.

“In recent days, we have witnessed a new shift – something that we have not seen before,” he said on Wednesday in statements to the Israeli parliament. “We have seen major open protests in the Gaza Strip against Hamas’s rule.”

Nader Ibrahim It contributed to the reports from London.