Public protests and criticism of Hamas in the Gaza Strip during recent months

Overview^[1]

• During the past three months, in light of the continued fighting, public criticism of the Hamas government and leadership has increased significantly in the Gaza Strip compared to the protests in the first months.^[2] The expanding activities of the IDF forces in Khan Yunis, Gaza City and the central Gaza Strip, the continuation of IDF and Israeli Air Force attacks throughout the Gaza Strip, the increase in the number of casualties and the heavy damage caused to infrastructure and buildings, the lack of food, the plight of the residents, especially the displaced persons, as well as the discourse about a military operation in Rafah, brought residents into the streets to demonstrate against Hamas.
• At the protest demonstrations, which are mostly held during the day, for the most part Gazans express their anger at their situation and at senior Hamas officials, especially Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, and Yahya al-Sinwar, head of the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip. The demonstrations highlight the growing frustration and despair among the Gazans living under the Hamas administration. They are angry at having to pay the price of the war while senior Hamas officials live in luxury in hotels abroad, while those who are in the Strip hide in tunnels. Most of the protesters call for the overthrow of the Hamas government and emphasize their desire to live a life of self-respect and support their families with dignity.
• An analysis of the demonstrations indicates that currently they are local and sporadic, apparently organized spontaneously. They are not held particularly frequently, only a few per month, and are attended by a few hundred people. Apparently Hamas is not trying to stop them, possibly because it does not currently regard them as endangering its status. Furthermore, Hamas [falsely] claims that most of the demonstrations do not represent the feelings of the population and are fabricated or directed by Israel.
• Meanwhile, because of the complaints, Hamas is clearly making attempts to correct the situation. For example, in response to complaints about the high price of food, the Hamas ministry of the interior appointed committees to monitor prices and prevent price gouging. The committees’ operatives examine prices, mainly in Rafah, where the majority of the population is concentrated, and masked, walk in the streets armed with clubs and guns, and supervise the markets.
• Criticisms are also posted on the social networks. However, at the moment there are relatively few threads, managed by a handful of people with a limited number of followers. Criticism deals mainly with two topics: harsh criticism of the conduct of senior Hamas officials inside and outside the Gaza Strip, and a description of the Gazan population’s appalling situation.
• So far, the number the protests is small and they do not endanger the Hamas administration. However, as time passes and Israel’s military pressure increases in the Gaza Strip, and as a result the humanitarian crisis worsens and the lack of food and shelter for the residents increases, the protests will continue and most likely increase. It is also possible that the approaching month of Ramadan, which begins on March 11, 2024, will further increase the public’s sense of want and its frustration, and therefore the extent of the protests.

Further Information

Protest demonstrations

• So far the demonstrations are spontaneous and organized locally. Most of them are held during the day, the number of participants is relatively small and do not exceed a few hundred people, they are held fairly infrequently and disperse on their own without the intervention of the Hamas security forces.
• The al-Sharq al-Awsat website reported that there were recently many protest demonstrations against Hamas in various areas of the Gaza Strip, including Deir al-Balah and Rafah. The website defined them as a “rare moment” of open protest against Hamas and noted that the demonstrations highlighted the growing frustration and despair among the residents of the Gaza Strip under the Hamas administration. Many of the demonstrators said the Hamas leadership was completely disconnected from the plight of ordinary people in Gaza, and they were looking for a change and someone who would take responsibility and demand an immediate end to the war. One of the signs read: “We demand a dignified life” (al-Sharq al-Awsat website, February 22, 2024).
• For example:
• On February 28, 2024, a daylight demonstration of several hundred residents was held in the center of Rafah to protest prices in the markets. Demonstrators who were interviewed asked where the government was and why no one was responsible (Wafa YouTube channel, February 28, 2024).

   
Gazans complain about the cost of living in Rafah (Wafa YouTube channel, February 28, 2024)

• On February 23, 2024, residents of Rafah demonstrated against Hamas. They called Yahya al-Sinwar a “traitor,” called for the overthrow of Hamas, and emphasized that “the people were the victims” (journalist Safaa Subhia’s X account, February 24, 2024).
• On February 22, 2024, residents of the northern Gaza Strip demonstrated against the Hamas administration and the leaders of the movement. They chanted slogans such as “There is no hunger in the tunnels … [but] the people are up here.” “Sinwar, you ass, we want to go home” (Jaffa the Gate of Palestine Telegram channel, February 22, 2024).

• On the evening of February 22, 2024, a protest demonstration was held in the Jebalya refugee camp. One of the protesters interviewed expressed his anger at the Hamas leadership, stating that the Gazans’ children were being killed and that they were the victims. He said they were hungry and wanted peace, not war. They were forced to sleep in schools and on the streets, and it was not the IDF that was killing Palestinians, “but you, al-Sinwar.” Another Gazan spoke directly to Hamas and said they wanted to live in peace, they only wanted a sack of flour and if [the Hamas leadership] couldn’t provide it, they should leave.

• On January 27, 2024, during the evacuation of the population from the center of Khan Yunis through a humanitarian corridor to the west, the residents chanted loudly “The people want to overthrow Hamas” (Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Facebook page in Arabic, January 27, 2024).

• On January 25, 2024, residents demonstrated in Khan Yunis and called on both the Israeli and Hamas leadership to stop the fighting and the destruction. Some of the protesters waved a white flag. Pictures from the demonstration were distributed by independent journalists in the Gaza Strip as well as by the Russian Sputnik news agency, but the event was not covered by the Hamas-affiliated media or other organizations in the Gaza Strip. It was the second demonstration in the Strip calling for an end to the war (QudsN X account, January 25, 2024).

   
Pictures from the demonstration in Khan Yunis (Right: QudsN X account. Left: Sputnik website X account in Arabic, January 25, 2024)

• On December 25, 2023, an anti-Hamas protest demonstration was held in Rafah during the day. The protesters set fire to a police station. A Palestinian commentator said that the residents’ hardships and Hamas’ shooting at them when they sought aid had led them to protest (Sky News TV X account in Arabic, December 25, 2023).

Criticism on the social networks

• The criticism leveled at Hamas on social media is currently relatively thin and managed by a handful of people with a limited number of followers. It mainly deals with two topics: sharp criticism of the Hamas leadership inside and outside the Gaza Strip and a description of the Gazan population’s appalling situation. People post notices such as, “Just as we will never forget what Israel did to us, we will never forget what Hamas did to us,” “People who live in hotels should not tell people living in tents and ditches what to do,” “The Israelis have been chanting since the beginning of the war, return the hostages. I also have a slogan: return us to our homes and give back everything you took from us.”

Criticism of the Hamas leadership

• Malek Haddad from Gaza usually uses posters, cartoons and photos to harshly criticize Hamas’ behavior towards the Gazan civilians. For example, on January 4, 2024, he published a cartoon showing Hamas suppressing public cries for help (Malek Hadad from Gaza’s X account, January 4, 2024). Previously, he published a poster criticizing the life of luxury and indulgence of the senior Hamas leadership in Qatar and another photo comparing the sons of Ismail Haniyeh to Palestinian amputees (Malek Hadad from Gaza’s X account, December 3 and 6, 2023).

• Kareem Jouda, who studied at al-Azhar University in Gaza, and according to his Facebook page is apparently from Jebaliya with 5,800 followers, wrote, “Every time I hear a statement from the outside, a small question comes to my mind. Where do the leaders of Hamas get their audacity when they appeal to us? Who are these people, and where are they from? How do they look at us from their homes in Istanbul, Qatar and Lebanon when we are under the ruins, suffering from hunger, “holocaust,” [alleged] genocide, ethnic and collective cleansing and all the rest? And they continue to market us illusions! Look, I have no problem with you being a shameless politician who plays games with the Palestinian cause, trades in it, and makes money from it. It is normal for you as someone who has ambition and a lot of money, but you are a shameless politician who at the same time is playing games with the [Palestinian] cause and the blood of children, women and youth, and their hunger and cold! That is, [you give] offense while ignoring all the ills of the disaster that befell the Gaza Strip! Neither in modern history nor in antiquity, and not even in the Precambrian era, was there such a low point!” (Kareem Jouda’s Facebook page, February 23, 2024).
• On another occasion he wrote, “May Allah not grant [Hamas] health, you destroyed the country and fled to Qatar” (Kareem Jouda’s Facebook page, February 13, 2024).
• He also wrote, “For those who still turn to Hamas or hope for something logical or rational from it, [know that] Hamas has abandoned the Gazans since the first days of the [alleged] genocide, as all its leaders have explicitly admitted. Musa Abu Marzouq said that the protection of the civilians was UNRWA’s responsibility, not Hamas’, and the tunnels were only intended for the protection of the movement’s operatives. Saleh al-‘Arouri said that those who massacred the Israeli civilians in the cities, towns and villages near the Gaza Strip were Gazan civilians, and Hamas’ military operatives were honorable, kindhearted and pure, and fasted twice a week. Muhammad Nazzal said that the prisoners from the operation [sic] were in the hands of the civilians in Rafah, and not in the hands of Hamas, that is, this Gazan family grew, it’s holding two old Israeli men, and the family is willing to risk dying for them. Khaled Mashal said when he was asked about Gazan civilians, ‘They won’t die, Allah is watching over them.’ I mean, what they’re saying to Israel is, ‘as long as you kill civilians, we aren’t shocked and we don’t care.’ Have you ever [heard] anything lower?” (Kareem Jouda’s Facebook page, February 13, 2024).
• Na’ama Hassan, from Rafah, who has 12,403 followers, wrote that “People who live in hotels should not tell people living in tents and ditches what to do” (Na’ama Hassan’s f[, February 6, 2024).
• Mahmoud Muhsen wrote, “You should have built Noah’s ark before the flood [Operation al-Aqsa Flood]. Your flood drowned us all” (Mahmoud Muhsen’s Facebook page, February 26, 2024). He added, “Muhammad Nazzal sits in his office in Doha and claims the videos of hungry people in northern Gaza demanding an end to the war are ‘fabricated.’ The biggest fabrication/fraud we have been exposed to in our history is to allow this handful of people to control our destiny and lead us to death in chains…” (Mahmoud Muhsen’s Facebook page, February 26, 2024).
• Sharia judge Dr. Ziad Abu al-Hajj, apparently from the central Gaza Strip who worked in the ministry of endowments (waqf), and who has 10,760 followers, wrote, “By Allah, tell Mr. Osama Hamdan [who sits in Beirut and is interviewed every day] to shut up, because we are tired of what he has to say and we hate [the sound of] his voice… Bring the people a solution, even if it involves bowing to the wind and storms. Preserve what is left of us (Facebook page of Sharia judge Ziad Abu al-Hajj, February 23, 2024).
• Amjad Abu Koush responded to the statement that the Palestinian people stand firm by writing, “Oh, people who stand firm!! Standing firm, are you? How did you decide on that? It’s a nice description, but how did you decide on it? You gave us options and we refused? They told us to come to a safe place and we said no, we don’t want to, will we stand firm? You provided us with a shelter from the occupation missiles and we said no, we want to confront them naked?! They told us to take a piece of bread and we said no, we stand firm and don’t want it? I’m very curious, how did you decide that we stand firm, you bastards? Let’s just figure it out!!” (Amjad Abu Koush’s Facebook page, February 21, 2024).
• Mustafa Asfour who has 7,747 followers, wrote, “Israel (the “occupation”) has uncovered a network of tunnels from the southern Gaza Strip to the north, stretching over 500 kilometers..! That is, you didn’t protect us in the tunnels, where the leaders and their families are hiding! You didn’t even send flour to the north through your north-south tunnels! You fail in everything and you want the civilian to shut up and tolerate it? And if he talks, he becomes a traitor and a spy? By Allah, no one is a traitor except the one who abandoned his people to the unknown. By Allah, no one is a spy except the one who sits and looks at his people from a hotel in Qatar” (Mustafa Asfour’s X account, February 27, 2024).
• Much criticism on the social networks related to the Hamas leadership’s removing their family members from the Gaza Strip:
  • Mahmoud Muhsen, who has 1,281 followers, published a photo of a list of Palestinians who were allowed to leave the Strip, including the children of Sameh al-Sarraj, a member of the Hamas political bureau of Hamas. He wrote, “This has been the pure truth about Hamas for 17 years: lies, nonsense and boasting. While Haniyeh and members of his political bureau outside the Gaza Strip boast and sing about the firm stance of the people in Gaza, the most famous member of the movement’s political bureau, Sameh al-Sarraj (Abu Fikri), coordinates his children’s flight from Gaza, as do many other divine leaders. Just as we will not let the world forget what Israel did to us, we will also not forget what Hamas did to us” (Mahmoud Muhsen’s Facebook page, February 28, 2024).

• • Mustafa Asfour published a copy of a list of Palestinians who were allowed to leave the Gaza Strip, including, according to him, the family members of Yahya al-Sinwar’s sister’s son. He wrote, “al-Sinwar’s sister’s son from Hamas, Jamil Mutawi’, and his family escaped from Gaza. Jamil Mutawi’ has a son named Musab who joined ISIS and was killed in Sinai by the Egyptian army. I call on the Egyptian authorities not to allow any of the leaders of Hamas or their children to leave Gaza and to prevent them from traveling. They must stand firm with the people” (Mustafa Asfour’s X account, February 28, 2024).

• • In another tweet on the same subject, he wrote “The spokesman for the Hamas police in Gaza, Amid (Brigadier General) Ayman Omar al-Batniji, is the name that was deleted from the list and above it are the names of his son and daughter. They fled the war in Gaza through the Rafah Crossing. These are their names on the coordination list. Praise those who made you flee like a dog after a dog from Gaza after torturing and killing your people and causing them to emigrate throughout your rule… Imagine senior Hamas members and their children fleeing a war started by their leader. They ran away and left their people to fight in the unknown! May Allah reckon with you, you filthy criminals” (Mustafa Asfour’s X account, February 28, 2024).

• Direct attacks were also made against Yahya al-Sinwar :
  • After the IDF spokesperson published a video published of Yahya al-Sinwar inside a tunnel, Mustafa Asfour wrote, “That rat, Yahya al-Sinwar, scurried to hide underground… He built tunnels to hide in with his children, his wife and those around them, and left the men, women and children of his people to fight death above ground while he enjoys himself with his family underground. Did you not once say, al-Sinwar, that you would walk to your house without guards and challenge the occupation to kill you? Where are you today? The occupation is in your house. Go and confront them instead of dying underground like a rat. To hell with you, you’re a cowardly leader who is sacrificing his homeland and his people for himself!” (Mustafa Asfour’s X account, February 13, 2024).
  • In another tweet, Asfour posted a picture of a man with a donkey’s head steering a boat through stormy seas, and wrote, “I will prove to you why this picture is correct. In principle, it refers to the donkey, Yahya al-Sinwar, who carried out Operation al-Aqsa Flood. Yesterday, the Israeli occupation released two hostages from those held by Hamas. The ages of the two hostages are 70 and 60. Sinwar, Do you realize that in return for two people on the verge of death we paid a hundred dead in less than an hour? With your tunnels almost completely exposed, you have no choice but to put the hostages near the civilians’ houses! Who can convince me that this man is a normal human being? Allah has distinguished man from all creatures by reason, so, Sinwar, what the hell? Maybe use your brain for once? (Mustafa Asfour’s X account, February 12, 2024).

Criticism of the situation in the Gaza Strip

• Kareem Jouda wrote, “Seriously, when Abu Obeida, [spokesman for the Hamas military-terrorist wing] threatened the occupation army and said ‘we have prepared different types of death for you,’ surely the threat was against the occupation, wasn’t it? Because I see that no one has seen all types of death except us” (Kareem Jouda’s Facebook page, February 23, 2024).
• In another post he wrote, “With the [alleged] genocide, each of us became a different person after October 7^th. The people around us became different people. We lost everything we had. The story that was told in the beginning is different now. The topics of interest have changed. Friends were separated from us by the war and displacement, and we started seeing new people and building new relationships. Life has turned upside down in a way that even nature itself cannot accept! After everything has been destroyed, what is there left to protect! The Israelis have been chanting a slogan since the beginning of the war, return the hostages, and I also want to chant a slogan, return us to our former lives, return everything you took from us (Kareem Jouda’s Facebook page, February 17, 2024).
• Naama Hassan of Rafah, who has 12,403 followers, after the rescue of the hostages in Rafah, wrote, “Osama Hamdan said that the captives released by Israel were held by civilians in Rafah. Was what he said a justification for what happened in Rafah so that the movement would maintain the image of the invincible hero, or was it a condemnation of the civilians and the justification for the brutal bombing of the houses and the killing of a hundred civilians sleeping in their tents? (Naama Hassan’s Facebook page, February 13, 2024). She also wrote: We understand that we are [paying] a price, but in return for what? (Naama Hassan’s Facebook page, February 9, 2024) .
• Dr. Riadh Awad, a Palestinian ministry of health retiree since 2016 who has 1,973 followers, wrote, “What is effect of the “flood” (Operation al-Aqsa Flood) on society? Divorce rates will rise, displacement, destroyed homes, destroyed infrastructure, collapse of the public health sector, spread of diseases and the return of diseases that were extinct in the past, the destruction of education, the destruction of agricultural lands, the reduction of the Gaza Strip’s territory, poverty and extreme poverty, unemployment, hunger, humiliation, begging, the spread of hatred in society and with the Palestinian and Arab communities, merchants of war, the collapse of values and the deterioration of morals and social relations, chaos, thieves and organized crime gangs, displacement and migration, the danger of UNRWA’s mission ending, loss of history, fatigue and misery of parents and the loss of the children’s future. In short, Gaza is over. On the political level, there is a retreat in the Palestinian cause that surpasses the first nakba” (Riadh Awad’ Facebook page, February 17, 2024).
• Omar Shaheen, who has 3,930 followers, wrote, “The situation is beyond belief. We speak Arabic We want to stop the war. We don’t care about all your terms or deals. Every moment that the war continues, we lose the hope of being saved a hundred times” (Omar Shaheen’s Facebook page, February 6, 2024). In another post he wrote, “We are the kidnapped hostages. I hope you can also make a deal and release us” (Omar Shaheen’s Facebook page, February 4, 2024).

Additional criticism

• In response to the statement of Muhammad Nazzal, a member of the Hamas political bureau, who accused the Palestinian Authority of “shirking [its responsibility to] the war in the Gaza Strip,” a surfer wrote to him, “You bastard… what did you say before the war, we have a nuclear weapon and our power is equal to the power of the Soviet Union, even Sinwar the psychopath said they would protect the Palestinian people. So how did the Palestinian presidency ignore the war in the Gaza Strip? It refused to participate in it with its tanks and planes? Not only did you destroy the Gaza Strip…you also destroyed Judea and Samaria, which has been deteriorating for four years because of the funds you send to the ‘mercenaries’ to help you, you bunch of collaborators!” (Free Gaza Telegram channel, February 26, 2024 ).

Hamas responses

• During an interview with al-Arabiya TV, Muhammad Nazzal, a member of the Hamas political bureau, was shown a video of a demonstration in the northern Gaza Strip where a local resident complains of hunger and claims Hamas fired at the demonstrators. Asked for his reaction to the video and similar voices heard recently in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, Nazzal claimed the videos could be fabricated, and if they were real, then there were “elements” trying to turn the struggle from an Israeli-Palestinian struggle into an intra-Palestinian struggle. He claimed it was Israel that was attacking the Palestinians and [allegedly] waging a war of extermination against them, not the Hamas movement. Asked about Hamas’ responsibility [to civilians], as it controls the Strip, he said it was indeed Hamas’ responsibility, but claimed there was a blockade on the Strip, and one of the [alleged] motives for the October 7^th attack was to lift the “siege.” He claimed he “understood” the angry and tired voices in the Gaza Strip, but it was not Hamas which was preventing the arrival of aid, it was Israel, which was [allegedly] pursuing a policy of starvation, and the protests should be directed against Netanyahu and the Israeli government, and not against Hamas, which was conducting difficult negotiations to end the starvation and to end the war (al-Arabiya TV YouTube channel, February 25, 2024).
• Given the complaints about the prices in the markets, Hamas established popular watch committees in Rafah designed to help the Palestinian ministry of the interior and the police forces prevent price gouging in the markets and to take a hard line against merchants raised prices unfairly (Hassan Aslih’s Telegram channel, February 28, 2024).

• On March 2, 2024, according to reports, the emergency committees and the security forces will begin operations in the Nuseirat refugee camp on March 3, 2024 to eliminate price gouging and take punitive measures against merchants in the markets [who unlawfully raise prices] (Nuseirat Now Telegram channel, March 3, 2024).

^[1] Click https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en to subscribe and receive the ITIC's daily updates as well as its other publications. ↑
^[2] For further information, see the December 2023 ITIC report, "Rifts between Gazan civilians and the Hamas leadership, and increasing public criticism of the organization” and the November 2023 ITIC report, "The price Gazans pay for criticizing Hamas." ↑

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