Palestinians in Gaza protested against the war for a second straight day on Wednesday and chanted slogans against Hamas, frustrated and angry over the collapse of a cease-fire with Israel that many had hoped would become permanent.
The protests were rare shows of dissent against Hamas, the armed group that has ruled Gaza for 17 years with an iron fist and which started a 15-month war by leading the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Wednesday’s protests appeared to spread to more parts of Gaza than on Tuesday, according to video on social media and witnesses.
Most of the demonstrations have been small so far. But the main ones on Tuesday and Wednesday in the heavily damaged northern town of Beit Lahiya appear to have drawn hundreds of people, according to witnesses. No crowd numbers could be independently verified, though videos showed significant gatherings.
Smaller protests were held on Wednesday in Gaza City, also in the north, and in at least two locations in central Gaza — Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah. One participant in Deir al-Balah said nearly 300 people took part in the protest there, with no discernible Hamas presence.
Some Gazans say the protests began as a spontaneous outpouring of emotion, but there were indications on Wednesday that they were becoming more organized. Over the past two days, there has been a notable increase in calls on social media from Palestinians inside Gaza to come out into the streets and demonstrate against Hamas’s rule and its conduct of the war with Israel.
On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered for the second straight day in Beit Lahiya, some chanting “Hamas out! Hamas is terrorism!” and “We want to live freely.” There was another smaller protest in Gaza City, also in the north, with chants against Hamas.
Videos from the Tuesday protests, verified by The New York Times, showed groups of Gazans in the half-ruined streets of Beit Lahiya. Some carried signs that opposed the continuation of the war, while others chanted slogans calling for Hamas to get out.
Said Lulu, a 38-year-old from Gaza City in the north who is now sheltering in the southern city of Khan Younis, said on Wednesday that he had heard about the protest in Beit Lahiya the day before and had begun contacting other anti-Hamas political activists to call for more social-media protest.
“I can tell you hundreds responded with ‘Yes! We are joining you,’” he said. “Many of the individuals who are members of big families are joining the protests,” he added. “If Hamas decides to use force against protesters, I am afraid protesters would use force back,” Mr. Lulu said.
“Our demands are clear: End the war at any cost,” he said. “‘We want to live’ is our slogan,” he added. “This time is different, I believe. We have absolutely nothing to lose. We have lost everything already, so we are not afraid.”
There have been few signs so far of any attempt by Hamas to crack down by force on the protests, as the group has done in the past.
Hamas, for its part, is trying to channel Palestinian anger back in the direction of Israel. In a statement posted on its Telegram channel on Wednesday, Hamas said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel “bears full responsibility for the failure” of the cease-fire agreement.
A senior Hamas official, Basem Naim, said in a post on social media on Wednesday that “all people have the right to scream in pain and raise their voices.” But he warned against exploiting “tragic humanitarian conditions” for political agendas or to absolve “the criminal aggressor,” meaning Israel.
Gazans, at least publicly, tend to blame Israel for much of the death, destruction and hunger the war has brought. But at least some hold Hamas responsible, as well, for leading the attack that began the war, for holding hostages and for continuing to fight rather than giving up its power in exchange for a cease-fire.
Eslam Rafat, a 21-year-old student from Beit Lahiya, said he joined the protests “to call for an end to the war, and an end to the genocide in Gaza, and nothing more.” He said that some of those who joined the protests were making political statements, but that they went out originally to call for an end to the war.
“It pains me to see children lining up for several hours to get handout food that often runs out,” he added.
The two-month cease-fire with Israel had brought the first sustained respite from more than a year of incessant bombardment and a ground war. Almost the entire population of Gaza — more than two million people — was displaced during the war and the Israeli offensive killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Israel abandoned the truce last week and resumed its bombardment of Gaza in an attempt to pressure Hamas to free more of the remaining hostages still held in the territory.
Leaders of prominent Palestinian clans and families in southern Gaza who oppose Hamas issued a joint statement on Wednesday calling on Palestinians in the territory to “launch a popular uprising against injustice,” and protest against Hamas.
“Hamas must lift its hand from Gaza immediately and end this unjust blockade imposed on us due to decisions that do not represent us,” the statement said.
“We call on you all to take to the streets and make our voice heard,” it added. “Gaza is not held hostage by anyone. Gaza will be liberated by the will of its people.”
Abdel Hamid Abed al-Atti, a Palestinian journalist and former radio host who fled from Beit Lahiya to Egypt during the war, called for an end to Hamas rule in Gaza.
“Enough — after a year and a half of war,” he said in a widely viewed video.
Mr. Abed al-Atti, who said he lost many family members to Israeli attacks during the war, said Gazans were protesting out of an overwhelming sense of anger after so much loss and destruction.
“This was spontaneous,” he added in a phone call. “These days, Gazans have nothing left to lose.”
Amin Abed, a Palestinian activist from Gaza who spent the early part of the war in Gaza and was evacuated to the United Arab Emirates for medical treatment in September last year, said the protesters’ main demand was for Hamas to step down.
“People are exhausted,” Mr. Abed told The New York Times in a phone interview on Wednesday. “They want to live in peace, safety, and stability, away from war and death. They want dignity,” he added.
“This movement is proof,” Mr. Abed said. “It refutes the Israeli narrative that all of Gaza is Hamas.”
Munther al-Hayek, the Gaza-based spokesman for the Palestinian Fatah faction, a rival to Hamas, called on Hamas “to listen to the voice of our people and withdraw from the government” in Gaza. Speaking in an interview with Palestinian radio on Wednesday, he said Hamas should hand over power to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Mr. al-Hayek said Hamas’s presence “has become dangerous to the Palestinian cause,” adding that the movement should listen to the voices emerging in Gaza and save the devastated population.
Mr. Netanyahu also took note of the protests in Gaza.
“In recent days, we have witnessed a new shift — something we have never seen before,” he said on Wednesday in remarks to Israel’s Parliament. “We saw large, open protests in the Gaza Strip against Hamas rule.”
Nader Ibrahim contributed reporting from London.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/world/middleeast/gaza-hamas-protests.html
