Palestinians protest Hamas in a rare public show of dissent in Gaza
Videos that appeared to be authentic showed hundreds of people taking part in a protest in the heavily destroyed northern town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday. People held signs saying «Stop the war,» «We refuse to die» and «The blood of our children is not cheap.»
There were calls for more protests on Wednesday. At least one was held in the hard-hit Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, where dozens of men chanted «Out, out out! Hamas get out!»
«We are sick of the bombing, killing and displacement,» said Ammar Hassan, who took part in the protest on Tuesday.
He said it started as an anti-war protest with a few dozen people but swelled to more than 2,000, with people chanting against Hamas.
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«It's the only party we can affect,» he said by phone. «Protests won't stop the (Israeli) occupation, but it can affect Hamas.»
The militant group has violently cracked down on previous protests. This time no outright intervention was apparent, perhaps because Hamas is keeping a lower profile since Israel resumed its war against it.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim, in a post on Facebook, wrote that people had the right to protest but that their focus should be on the «criminal aggressor,» Israel.
'We want to stop the killing' Family elders from Beit Lahiya expressed support for the protests against Israel's renewed offensive and its tightened blockade on all supplies into Gaza. Their statement said the community fully supports armed resistance against Israel.
«The protest was not about politics. It was about people's lives,» said Mohammed Abu Saker, a father of three from the nearby town of Beit Hanoun, who joined the demonstration.
«We want to stop the killing and displacement, no matter the price. We can't stop