In the Middle East, defining moments are not always measured by the size of an explosion or the number of casualties. Sometimes, they are measured by the reaction that follows. After Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed the killing of Haddad, one of Hamas’s most prominent military council commanders, what drew attention inside Gaza was not only the assassination itself, but the silence that followed it.
In previous years, funerals of senior Hamas commandersoften turned into massive public displays of loyalty and defiance. Streets would fill with crowds, chants, and military symbolism. This time, however, many Gazans noticed something different. The turnout appeared smaller, public enthusiasm seemed weaker, and social media reactions revealed emotions rarely expressed so openly before: exhaustion, indifference, and in some cases, even schadenfreude.
These reactions did not come only from Hamas’s political opponents or from civilians devastated by years of war and economic collapse. Some also appeared to come from individuals previously associated with Hamas’s own social environment. Many revived old conversations about internal rivalries, repression, and the atmosphere of fear that has shaped life in Gaza for years.
In a politically closed and deeply conservative society like Gaza, shifts in public opinion are not always expressed through demonstrations or polls. Sometimes they are reflected in whispers, in silence, or in what people choose not to do. For many Gazans, the relatively weak public response to Haddad’s funeral carried a deeper political and social message.
Questions are now growing inside Gaza about whether Hamas still possesses the same solid popular base that once gave the movement its legitimacy after taking control of the Strip in 2007. After years of war, blockade, displacement, and economic collapse, many Gazans no longer view political factions through the same ideological lens. Priorities have changed. People increasingly want electricity, safety, freedom of movement, jobs, and education more than revolutionary slogans.
At the same time, Hamas recently allowed Fatah to hold its eighth conference inside Gaza under the protection of Hamas-controlled police forces, while statements attributed to Yasser Abbas, son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Hamas of carrying out a “military coup” against the Palestinian Authority. For many Gazans, this contradiction raised difficult questions. How can Fatah continue to describe Hamas as its political and military rival while simultaneously coordinating with it on the ground in Gaza?
For residents who lived through the violent 2007 Hamas-Fatah split, such scenes reinforce the growing belief that Palestinian division has evolved into a closed political system in which both sides reproduce their own power structures while ordinary civilians remain excluded from meaningful political representation.
On social media, many Gazans criticized Fatah’s eighth conference as yet another recycling of aging leadership figures incapable of offering a realistic vision for Gaza’s future or involving younger generations in political decision-making. Yet frustration is no longer directed at Fatah alone. Hamas itself is facing what may be the deepest crisis of public trust since it seized control of Gaza nearly two decades ago.
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