For the past two days, Palestinians across the Gaza Strip have taken to the streets to demand an end to Israel’s genocidal onslaught and to Hamas’ rule of the territory. Beginning in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, demonstrations quickly spread to other parts of the enclave including Shuja’iyya in the north, Nuseirat and Deir Al-Balah in the center, and Khan Younis in the south. The protests are the largest since the war began, and the most significant public display of dissent against Hamas in Gaza in years.

The demonstrations were triggered by new Israeli orders to evacuate Beit Lahiya and the surrounding areas, as the military expands its latest ground incursion. Residents spontaneously went out onto the streets on Tuesday to vent their anger at being forcibly displaced yet again, reflecting the population’s increasing desperation after Israel shattered the fragile ceasefire last week.

While holding Israel responsible for the slaughter of more than 50,000 people over the past year and a half, and for subjecting the Strip to a longstanding blockade that has further intensified during the war, the protesters are also directing their ire at Hamas: they are calling on the group to do everything in its power to stop the bombing before stepping aside to allow for free elections.  

“I participated in the demonstrations from the moment they started,” 50-year-old Raed Tabash, from Khan Younis, told +972. “I chanted and screamed and vented my inner rage. We’ve been living under siege for 20 years. There’s no work and no future for our youth. Our children are growing up and we don’t know what awaits them. How many children have been killed during this war? Are we giving birth to our children only for missiles to kill them in the most horrific way?

“I’m tired of being repeatedly displaced,” Tabash continued. “I have no money left to buy food for my children, and even if I did, the markets are empty. We have become physically and psychologically ill. We want a complete and final end to the war, and for elections to be held so we can choose a party other than Hamas to govern us. I will not stop going out and demanding an end to our suffering until all of this stops and there is a change in the government in Gaza.”

Despite his criticisms of Hamas, however, Tabash emphasized that his main struggle is against the Israeli occupation. “If we were freed from the shackles of the occupier and from its repeated wars, we and our children would live in safety and peace,” he stated. “The occupation is responsible for our suffering.”

Ahmed Thabet, 29, participated in protests this week in Beit Lahiya. “As a young man, I have a future: I want to work, get married, and have a family,” he told +972. “A year and a half have passed since the war started and there has been no change in the reality that the occupation has imposed on us. There is only a daily routine of killing, destruction, and crying over our loved ones. If the missiles don’t kill us, famine will. We want to change this reality. 

“The world thinks that all of Gaza is Hamas, which is false,” Thabet continued. “Hamas is part of Gaza; some of us agree with it and some disagree with it — this is normal. We are calling for elections, to change who rules us. This is our right as a people who want to change our reality and our future. The war must stop, and Hamas’ rule must be replaced. 

“Keep in mind that in the West Bank, which is ruled by the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians suffer from displacement, arrests, and home demolitions [by the Israeli military],” he went on. “This means that the occupation is against the Palestinian people, not against their political affiliation. I hope the United States will support us in our right to live and stop supporting and perpetuating the war. We will help the negotiators to successfully reach a solution to end it.” 

Munir Baraka, a 45-year-old from Deir Al-Balah, hit back at the cynical support for the protests from the Israeli media and politicians. “We don’t care what they say, nor that they are encouraging us to demonstrate. We are against the occupation and their war. We are calling for a change in Hamas’ rule, as is our right — just as the Israelis are calling for the overthrow of Netanyahu’s government. 

“Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007, and it is time for its role to end,” he continued. “We don’t want the Palestinian Authority either, because we see what it has done in the West Bank. We want a responsible body that cares about our lives and our future. No party has the right to force us to live through successive and continuous wars.

“We want the world to see Gazans as human beings like them — a free, peaceful, civil people who want to live,” Baraka went on. “None of us wants death. Whoever calls us terrorists to justify the occupation killing us with heavy missiles is wrong. We support any negotiations to stop the war, and we will continue these demonstrations until our demands are met.” 

‘It’s clear the sound of our empty stomachs bothered you’

Beyond the protests on Gaza’s streets, Palestinians also took to social media to defend the demonstrators against accusations that they were doing the bidding of Israel or the Palestinian Authority. 

“Those who took part in the spontaneous demonstrations in northern Gaza are the same people who starved, surviving on animal fodder and wild grass,” Sami Abu Salem wrote in a post on Facebook. “They are the ones who endured and foiled [Israel’s] displacement plan. They are the ones still waiting for their children to be pulled from the rubble. They are the ones whose names belong on the honor roll.  

“I believe their protest was spontaneous and has nothing to do with the Palestinian Authority or anyone else,” he continued. “Accusing them of treason is shamelessness and moral and political bankruptcy.”

Others directly addressed those opposing the protests. “Dear ones who have the right to speak about us … We apologize for the unexpected surprise, as we are people of flesh and blood like you,” Ahmed Mortaja wrote on Facebook. “We tried to fast without complaining about the lack of food and drink for more than 18 months, but it is clear that the sound of our empty stomachs bothered you. We apologize for that.”

Some, like Saleh Fayaz, expressed anger and frustration with Hamas while acknowledging that in the current circumstances it is the only thing preventing Gaza’s total eradication. “I have enough criticism of Hamas to write a book of five hundred pages or more,” he wrote. “But since October 7, Hamas has not been the target. It has only been the pretext. 

“Had Hamas been completely annihilated, Israel would have continued its war against the Mujahideen Brigades and the Popular Front, turning every raised rifle into an ‘imminent danger,’” he continued. “Israel does not want disarmament, but rather the annihilation of existence. If Hamas surrenders its weapons without a real guarantee of a path toward liberation and statehood, Israel will transform the Strip into a darker version of Sabra and Shatila.”

Fayaz also responded to social media posts by pro-Israel influencers expressing support for the protests and urging Gazans to join them. “Calls by Zionists like Edy Cohen to demonstrate are likely an attempt to hijack the movement and undermine the protesters,” he said. “Those who might have joined the protests would [instead] hold back so as not to be seen as following Israeli orders.

“I believe Israel wants to preserve the image it has projected to the world, that all of Gaza is of one color and deserving of death because [its people supposedly] support ‘terrorism,'” he added. “What it doesn’t want to show is the real picture emerging — that Gaza is in fact multi-colored.”