Anti-Hamas protests in southern Gaza enter third day

[Pelican Press 0]

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Anti-****** protests in southern Gaza enter third day

Naomi Scherbel-Ball

BBC News, reporting from Jerusalem

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Videos showed protests chanting: “Out! Out! Out! All of ******, out.”

Palestinians have taken to the streets in southern Gaza for a third day to protest against ******.

Hundreds of demonstrators were seen in videos posted on social media calling for an end to the war and for the removal of the armed group from Gaza. “Out! Out! Out! All of ******, out!” they chanted.

Speaking out against ****** can be dangerous in Gaza and threats circulated on journalists’ WhatsApp groups on Tuesday, forbidding them from publishing any “negative news that could affect the morale of the people”.

Activists said young people started the protests on Monday and were joined by others on their way to get food from community kitchens, who were still holding their pots.

The protesters directed their anger at ******’s leadership after an interview with senior official Sami Abu Zuhri circulated on social media.

Speaking on a podcast which originally aired in late March, he said that the war with Israel was “eternal”, adding: “We will rebuild the houses and produce dozens more babies for each martyr.”

Videos from the protests in Khan Younis show young men criticizing ****** for selling their “blood for a dollar… To those with ******, be aware the people of Gaza will dig your grave”.

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Activists said young people started the protests in Khan Younis on Monday

In recent months, protests against ****** have been on the rise in northern Gaza, but activists say the group’s presence in the south has remained strong and it has successfully suppressed public dissent until now.

International journalists including those with the BBC are blocked by Israel from reporting in Gaza and anti-****** sentiment remains difficult to assess from afar.

Israel has carried out daily air strikes on Khan Younis since Monday, when the Israeli army issued residents with one of the largest evacuation orders this year, telling those in the eastern half of the city to head immediately towards camps in the coastal al-Mawasi area.

One man, who we are calling Alaa, was among those who started the protests. He agreed to speak to the BBC on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals from ******.

“The people do not care anymore about ******’ attempts to suppress their voice because they are literally dying from hunger, evacuation, and the bombings,” he said.

Alaa, who is originally from northern Gaza, said he had had to move around 20 times over the course of the 19-month war and could not afford to buy a tent for shelter.

Previously imprisoned for taking part in anti-****** protests in 2019, Alaa said ****** needed to leave.

“Resistance was not born with ******, and even if ****** is gone, there will be other faces of resistance [to the Israeli occupation]. But this current policy will cost us all of Palestine and the nation.”

“We just want our children to live in peace, and we deliver a message to the whole world, to try their best in pressuring Israel and ****** so we can save us and our children from this war.”

In Gaza, public criticism of ****** carries significant risks.

In March, 22-year old Oday a-Rubai was abducted and tortured to death by armed gunmen after taking part in anti-****** protests in Gaza City.

There are reports that others have been beaten, shot or killed for publicly opposing the group.

Alaa said that as their protest approached Nasser hospital on Monday a group of men told them to stop.

“There was one man who wanted to pull out his gun, but his friend stopped him. They couldn’t do anything because they were outnumbered by the number of protesters.”

Moumen al-Natour, who is a lawyer, former political prisoner, and co-founder of the anti-****** protest movement, We Want to Live, said: “The fatigue, effort and cost of displacement is pushing people to revolt against ****** who refuse to surrender and hand over their weapons.”

The United Nations says that since 15 May, more than 57,000 people have been displaced in southern Gaza due to the fighting and evacuation orders.

More than 53,000 people have been killed across Gaza since the start of the war, according to the ******-run health ministry, 82 of them in the past 24 hours.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy ****** after the group’s cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages.

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