Thousands of Palestinians marched in northern Gaza on Wednesday, the second day of anti-war protests, with many chanting against Hamas in a rare display of public anger against the ruling terror group.
As the Palestinians marched, Defense Minister Israel Katz urged others to join the protests while warning that a restarted military campaign against Hamas would only gain intensity.
The protests appeared to be aimed generally against the war, with protesters calling for an end to 17 months of deadly fighting with Israel, started by Hamas, that has made life in Gaza insufferable.
But the public calls against Hamas, which has long repressed dissent and still rules the territory months into the war with Israel, were rare.
Demonstrators carrying banners reading “Hamas does not represent us” were seen marching in Gaza City and the town of Beit Lahiya in the north of the territory.
In Beit Lahiya, where a similar protest took place Tuesday, about 3,000 people demonstrated, with many chanting “the people want the fall of Hamas.” In the hard-hit Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, dozens of men chanted “Out, out out! Hamas get out!”
“Our children have been killed. Our houses have been destroyed,” said Abed Radwan, who said he joined the protest in Beit Lahiya “against the war, against Hamas, and the [Palestinian political] factions, against Israel and against the world’s silence.”
Ammar Hassan, who took part in a protest Tuesday, 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.
“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 terror 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.
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