Hundreds of Palestinians have protested in northern Gaza to demand an end to war, chanting "Hamas out," social media posts showed, in a rare public show of opposition to the militant group that sparked the latest war with its 7 October 2023 raid on Israel.
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 moved several times to escape the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to say the protest showed Israel's decision to renew its offensive was working in Gaza, where Hamas police - the group's enforcers - have once again disappeared after emerging during a ceasefire.
"Out, out, out, Hamas get out," chanted those seen in one of the posts published on X, apparently from the Beit Lahiya region of Gaza, yesterday. It showed people marching down a dusty street between war-damaged 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 that his name not be used for fear of retribution.
"Many chanted slogans against Hamas, not all people but many, saying 'Out Hamas'. People are exhausted and no one should blame them," he said.
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The posts began circulating widely late yesterday. 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.
Social media activists circulated a video they said was of a protest by hundreds of people in Shejaia, a suburb of Gaza City, calling for the dismissal of Hamas, indicating the anti-Hamas protests may be spreading. Reuters could not verifythe authenticity of the video.
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.
Much of the narrow coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.
The resumption of Israeli military operations in Gaza has displaced 142,000 people in just one week, the United Nations said, warning of the humanitarian cost.
"142,000 people have been displaced," a spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, pointing out that about 90% of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once between the start of the war on 7 October, 2023 and January of this year.
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, Israel has issued new evacuation orders after relaunching its offensive on 18 March.
"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, saying its goal was to completely dismantle Hamas, nearly 700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.
Hamas deployed thousands of police and security forces across Gaza after the ceasefire took effect in January, but its armed presence has sharply retracted since Israel's major attacks resumed. Fewer police were present in some areas, while members and leaders of the armed wing went off the radar to avoid Israeli airstrikes.
Palestinian analyst Akram Attallah said Hamas, which kept a lid on public opposition before the war, would have few options to clamp down on demonstrations if they gained momentum.
"The people are exhausted and paid with their lives and property, and the group is facing a devastating Israeli military offensive that makes it weaker to crack down on the protesters even if it wanted to," he said.
Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 in elections that swept out the Fatah group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It has ruled the enclave since then, offering little space for opposition.
The two movements have been at odds for years and have failed to bridge differences over the post war 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.
Israel threatens to seize parts of Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to seize parts of Gaza if Hamas does not release hostages, while the militant group warned they would return "in coffins" if Israel does not stop bombing the Palestinian territory.
Just over a week since the military resumed operations following a January truce, Israel said two projectiles were fired from Gaza, with one intercepted and the other landing near the border.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.
The rocket fire came a day after hundreds of Palestinians staged a rare protest against Hamas, chanting slogans against the Islamist movement and calling for an end to the war.
Shattering weeks of relative calm in the war brought by the fragile ceasefire, Israel last week resumed intense bombardment and ground operations across Gaza, while militants returned to launching rocket attacks.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, 830 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its strikes on 18 March.
No deaths have been reported on the Israeli side.
Israeli officials say the resumption of operations was meant to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages, after a stalemate in talks with mediators on extending the truce - which saw 33 Israeli captives freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel wanted an extension of the truce's initial phase, while Hamas demanded talks on a second stage that was meant to lead to a permanent ceasefire.
Mr Netanyahu told parliament that "the more Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the stronger the pressure we will exert".
"This includes the seizure of territories, along with other measures I will not elaborate here," he added, days after his Defence Minister Israel Katz had warned: "The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel".
Read the latest on the conflict in the Middle East
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
"Every time the occupation attempts to retrieve its captives by force, it ends up bringing them back in coffins," Hamas said in a statement.
The group said it was "doing everything possible to keep the (Israeli) occupation's captives alive, but the random Zionist bombardment is endangering their lives".
Gal Gilboa-Dalal, an Israeli survivor of the 2023 attack whose brother was taken hostage, has told AFP he can "constantly imagine our reunion".
"This moment felt closer than ever and unfortunately, it's drifting away from me again," he said of his brother Guy Gilboa-Dalal, taken from a music festival near the Gaza border and last seen in a video shared by Hamas last month.
"We are fighting here against a terrorist organisation that only understands force," he said.
"On the other hand, I am terrified that these bombings and this operation... will endanger the hostages there. There's no way to know what the terrorists might do to them or if a missile might accidentally hit them," he added.
'People are tired'
The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 50,183 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.
In northern Gaza yesterday, Palestinians gathered for the biggest anti-Hamas rally since the start of the war, chanting "Hamas out" and "Hamas terrorists".
Majdi, a protester who did not wish to give his full name, said the "people are tired".
"If Hamas leaving power in Gaza is the solution, why doesn't Hamas give up power to protect the people?"
Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 after winning a Palestinian election the year before. No vote has been held since.
Levels of discontent towards Hamas in Gaza are difficult to gauge, in part because of its intolerance for public expressions of dissent.
Fatah, the Palestinian movement of president Mahmud Abbas, has called on Hamas to "step aside from governing" Gaza to safeguard the "existence" of Palestinians in the war-battered territory.
