Hundreds of Palestinians protest against deadly war, Hamas

Hundreds of Palestinians have protested in northern Gaza to demand an end to war and chanting “Hamas out,” social media posts showed, in a rare public show of opposition to the group which has governed the enclave since 2007.

Northern Gaza has been one of the most devastated areas of Gaza. Most buildings in the densely populated area have been reduced to rubble and much of the population has been forcibly displaced several times since.

“Out, out, out, Hamas get out,” chanted those seen in one of the posts published on X, apparently from the Beit Lahia region of Gaza, on Tuesday. It showed people marching down a dusty street between destroyed buildings.

“It was a spontaneous rally against the war because people are tired and they have no place to go,” said one witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

“Many chanted slogans against Hamas, not all people but many, saying ‘Out Hamas’. People are exhausted and no one should blame them,” he said.

The posts began circulating widely late on Tuesday. Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video by buildings, utility poles and road layout that matches satellite imagery of the area. Reuters was not able to independently verify the date of the video. However, several videos and photographs shared on social media showed protests in the area on 25 March.

In other posts, one of the banners held by the crowd read “Enough wars,” while people chanted “We don’t want war.”

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said people had the right to protest at the suffering inflicted by the war but he denounced what he said were “suspicious political agendas” exploiting the situation.

“Where are they from, what is happening in the West Bank?” he said. “Why don’t they protest against the aggression there or allow people to take to the streets to denounce this aggression?”

The comments, reflecting tensions among Palestinian factions over the future of Gaza, came several hours after the rival Fatah movement called on Hamas to “respond to the call of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”. Fatah leads the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank.

Political tensions

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military onslaught in Gaza since 7 October 2023, with thousands more feared buried under rubble, while much of the surviving population is faced with imminent hunger and a lack of other necessities. 

Much of the narrow coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.

Hundreds of thousands of residents who had fled to the south of Gaza earlier in the war returned to their ruined homes in the north after a ceasefire took effect in January.

Now, Israeli evacuation orders after the country relaunched its offensive on 18 March have shattered the two-month truce, during which Hamas handed over more captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails.

“All Gaza is in ruins and now the occupation ordered us to leave the north again, where to go?” the witness at the protests said.

Since Israel resumed its strikes on Gaza, at least 830 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.

While official contacts aimed at getting the ceasefire process back on track have continued, there has been little sign of a breakthrough over central issues including the future governance of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas began governing the Gaza Strip in 2007 in elections that swept out the Fatah group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It has ruled the enclave since then. Some Palestinians voice caution about speaking out against the group publicly for fear of retribution.

The two movements have been at odds for years and have failed to bridge differences over the postwar future of Gaza, which the PA says must come under its authority.

Hamas, while expressing readiness to step back from an active part in government, says it must be involved in selecting whatever administration comes next.