A crowd that advances in the dilapidated streets of the Gaza strip. Several hundred demonstrators, mainly men, paraded in Gaza-Ville on Wednesday, March 26 to denounce the position of Hamas in the deadly war between it. The resumption of Israeli mid-March bombing puts the Gazan population in front of the wall, while the Palestinian Islamist movement, responsible for the massacres of October 7, 2023 on Hebrew soil, remains inflexible on the conditions to release the last hostages.
On Tuesday, a first mobilization took place in Beit Lahia, also bringing together hundreds of participants. “I participated in sending a message from the people: ‘enough war’,” said Mohammed, questioned by AFP for his presence in the procession. Explicit slogans against Hamas have marked this demonstration. “Outside, outside, Hamas outside!”, He was notably chanted. “We demand the end of the relentless war against children, women and the elderly of Gaza,” claims another man, interviewed by the teams of NBC News.
Calls for gathering on Telegram
Some very limited protests had already been found in the Gaza Strip. But the extent of the dispute of the last days has been unprecedented since the start of the war. Among the demonstrators, many question Hamas’ will to negotiate with the Hebrew state, which has killed several hundred people in its strikes since the ceasefire. In addition to the criticism of Israeli operations, “our other message is for Hamas: that’s enough,” said one of them, Mahmoud Haj Ahmad, to Cnn. “You have governed long enough; give others their chance, and let them come.”
Who is at the origin of this challenge? Difficult to know it. No information has filtered on the specific organizers of the events. The participants interviewed by the media on the spot also explain that they do not know who hides behind them. Many calls for the rally have been broadcast on Telegram channels to push Gazaouis to mobilize in different places of the territory. But no group claimed to have taken the initiative to form these various processions. The shootings of the crowds were nevertheless widely relayed on social networks by accounts known for their anti-hamas opposition on the web.
Within the Gaza Strip, the hegemony of the Hamas generally padlore any alternative political approach. The Fatah, the other main Palestinian force at the head of the Palestinian authority and the main rival of the Islamist movement, however argued that these events should lead Hamas to “listen to the voice of the people”. And therefore, to leave power in the Palestinian enclave, which he has administered since 2007. Al-Hayat al-Jadidaone of the main Palestinian press titles renowned very close to Fatah, called in its pages this group to “no longer take the fate of the people of Gaza”. A position that contrasts with that of Felesteena Journal of the Gazaouie press, which castigates a mobilization in the shape of a “conspiracy against the Palestinian resistance”.
“Spontaneous” mobilizations, according to Hamas
The Israeli government renewed its pressure on Hamas on Wednesday to try to make it yield to the release of new hostages. “The army will soon carry out operations with a maximum force on new Gaza areas,” said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. According to the Prime Minister of the Hebrew State Benyamin Netanyahu, the last demonstrations in the small Palestinian territory “proves [nt] That Israeli policy works “.” More and more Gazaouis understand that Hamas brings them destruction and ruin, and it is essential, “he said.
In any case, the challenge has given rise to contradictory declarations of the Islamist movement. The Press Office of the Hamas Government told CNN that the gatherings in Gaza were “spontaneous” and did not “reflect[aient] Not the general position “of the Gazaouie population. According to this source, manifesting would be” a legitimate right, and an essential part of the national values in which we believe and that we defend “. Several videos, mentioned by the AP news agency, would however show members of Hamas dispersing the crowd of demonstrators.
One of the members of the Hamas political bureau, Bassem Naïm, has also openly criticized the demonstrations. “It is unacceptable to exploit humanitarian tragedies in favor of questionable political agendas or to reject the fault” on others “that the real attackers,” he said, questioned by NBC News. Support for the Palestinian movement is gradually fading within the Gaza Strip. According to a study by the University of Oxford conducted with Artis International and the Palestinian PSR survey Institute in early January, only 20 % of Gazaouis still said that Hamas support.