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Will Hamas surrender if Gazans demand it? Frustration is growing in the enclave as the indirect cease-fire negotiations with Israel remain stalled. On the ground and across social media, Palestinians in Gaza – many of whom once feared criticizing Hamas – are now speaking out, organizing and protesting against their leadership that has overseen the destruction of the enclave in an apocalyptic 17-month war with Israel.

Residents of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip took to the streets Tuesday demanding the departure of Hamas, which has ruled the enclave since seizing power from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Among them was Mohammed, who has been urging others to join protests across Gaza. Speaking to Haaretz by phone, he expressed a deep desire for change.

"Hamas doesn't represent us," the 29-year-old says. Before the war, Mohammed struggled to make ends meet; he couldn't afford college or even consider getting married. He took on any available work – construction, carpentry, sales – filling in wherever he was needed.

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When the war began, tragedy struck his family. He lost his grandfather, two uncles and several distant relatives in the Israeli bombardments. His sister and parents survived, but their lives, like those of many others in Gaza, have been shattered.

As demonstrations ramp up in Beit Lahia, Mohammed recalls similar ones in Khan Yunis in the south before the war, particularly in August 2023, when Hamas security forces cracked down on demonstrators protesting the organization's shortcomings in administering the Strip.

A child carries a sign reading "The children of Palestine: We want to live," on Tuesday, the first day of protests in Beit Lahia.Credit: AFP

"Hamas attacked the organizers of those protests. But now, there's no power that can censor Gazans' voices," Mohammed says, adding that demonstrators now are fueled by everything they have endured during the war.

"All we want is to live in peace. The borders are closed, danger is everywhere, and we're trapped. It's enough that we've been forced into silence for so long. We should be the ones determining our lives – no one else should represent us."

Before the war, criticism of Hamas carried heavy consequences. "Anyone who spoke out was labeled a traitor," Mohammed says.

"Now, after losing so many of our loved ones, after watching friends and neighbors dig through the rubble to retrieve the bodies of family members, we're speaking from a place of deep pain and despair. We're the ones under fire. We're the ones losing everything."

Mohammed believes that history has proved the power of collective action. "The conscience of the masses is always truthful – no rational person can deny that," he says. "But people's expression of that truth can go astray when they have no leadership to guide them, or when they lose trust in the people meant to represent them."

Mohammed says that the Gazans protesting now are the same ones who resisted Israel's internal displacement plan for the Strip, the same ones who took to the streets as part of the 'We Want to Live' movement during the war. 'We Want to Live,' which formed in 2019, is a grassroots youth movement calling for increased economic opportunity and the toppling of Hamas rule.

Palestinians chant slogans during an anti-Hamas protest in Beit Lahia on Wednesday. Credit: AFP

'We Want to Live' is now trending on Facebook in Arabic – many Gazans favor Facebook over X. Another group, 'We Want Dignity,' also wants Hamas out, but that movement formed more recently, during the war.

"Suppressing us won't work. Accusing us of betrayal won't work. Hamas has nothing left to offer – nothing left to concede to ensure even our basic survival," Mohammed argues, adding that the war has changed everything.

"The release of hostages is no longer enough to stop the massacres," he says, referring to Israeli bombardments. "And now, Hamas is out of options."

More protesters in Beit Lahia on Wednesday.Credit: Stringer/Reuters

Mohammed sees only a few possible futures for the group, none of them promising. Maybe Hamas will meet the fate of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party in Iraq, "collapsing under the weight of war and resistance." Or the group might follow the path of Hezbollah in Lebanon, "entrenched in power but isolated and constrained."

There is also the possibility of a transformation, like that of Syria after the Assad regime and under its new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, "shifting from insurgency to political legitimacy." Or maybe Hamas "will take the most desperate route – the path of a gambler, refusing to fold, playing until the last moment, clinging to a hope that may never come." Fears about that option are why Mohammed and hundreds in Gaza are protesting, he says.

Muna, 27, returned to Gaza with her family just months before the war. For five years she had worked as an English teacher in the United Arab Emirates, as her husband forged a career as an engineer.

Muna and her husband dreamed of rebuilding their lives in their homeland, of raising their three children surrounded by family. But last April, an Israeli airstrike on their neighborhood in Rafah in the south killed her husband and all three of their children.

Now, Muna lives with her parents, two sisters and her brother. Her voice conveys both exhaustion and defiance. "Those who claim we're against the resistance – no, we're not. We're against the leadership," she says.

She recalls how 'We Want to Live' began long before the war, a desperate cry from people drowning in hardship and poverty. "Even before the bombs fell, people were struggling to survive," Muna says.

"Meanwhile, the people in power clung to their positions of power, filled their pockets, sent their children abroad and lived in comfort. They never listened to the cries of the people. And now, they're trading in our blood for their power."

A boy in Beit Lahia on Tuesday carrying a banner reading "The blood of our children is not cheap."Credit: AFP

Muna believes that Gazans' demands such as "Stop turning Gaza into rubble while you're sitting in safety" shouldn't be met with verbal sparring or accusations of treason.

She lists the names of her children, Rawan, Hamza and Inas. She mentions her cousin Hadil, and her friends Heba and Sahar. "They all wanted to live."

She remembers the home she built in Rafah, the photos she took of her children laughing. That home is gone now. "The house I built, organized and decorated to create a warm home – it's all gone," she says.

Muna still dreams of a country to call her own, of the sea off Gaza "no longer tainted with blood." She even dreams of returning home, even though she knows that her home no longer exists.

But Muna has lost hope in change. Despite her support for 'We Want to Live' and protests against the government, she believes that "this awakening has come too late." As she puts it, "This time, 'Better late than never' doesn't apply. The time lost can never be regained. Its cost has been an entire generation's future, countless souls, unimaginable suffering."

She concludes: "I don't think this last attempt will change anything. The fate imposed on our land is already sealed."

Anti-Hamas protesters in a ruined street in Beit Lahia on Wednesday.Credit: AFP

On social media, critical voices ratcheted up even before the recent protest. One X user questioned the use of weapons when they failed to protect the people, while another wondered about Hamas members who were happy to attend the group's hostage release ceremonies but were nowhere to be found when Rafah was being bombed last week.

Others suggest Israel will try to interfere in the burgeoning protest movement. Abed al-Hamid, a Palestinian journalist and TV host of the Gaza-based al-Mwatin channel, posted on X, "Israel is keen to sabotage the protests in Gaza because, at the start of the war, it promoted to the world that Gaza is Hamas and the people are terrorists."

Al-Hamid added: "It gave itself an excuse and cover to commit massacres. Therefore, Israel is trying to promote this narrative through its platforms to provide Hamas affiliates with justification to kill our people under the accusation of collaboration."

Hussein Jamal, a political researcher from Gaza, took to X to criticize efforts to suppress protesters, asking, "Would any sane person decide to silence a suffering nation under genocide expressing its anger?" In a later post, Jamal defended the protesters against accusations of betrayal, stating, "The people of Beit Lahia, Jabalya and Beit Hanoun are the ones who halted the displacement plan during the war."

Children carry signs reading "We refuse to die," during the rally in Beit Lahia on Tuesday.Credit: AFP

Omar Abd Rabou, a social and political activist from the Nuseirat refugee camp, has openly criticized Hamas and described its political agenda as "Russian roulette." He wrote on X that he and others "were summoned by the Hamas intelligence department in Nuseirat without any official notice or explanation, contrary to proper procedures." He did not elaborate on who this "We" was, but he said that "we were threatened with the arrival of an armed group to arrest us if we did not attend tomorrow."

He called this situation a "grave violation" marked by blatant disregard for legal procedure and the rights of individuals in Gaza.

In a later post, which seemed to imply that he had been coerced, Abd Rabou added that after his "interview" with Hamas intelligence people in Gaza, the discussion centered on "some recent propositions and the nature of the work."

He added that he was treated well during his "interview," which ended with him signing a pledge: "I affirm that I do not, in any way, support the abuse or defamation of the Hamas government or movement, nor do I advocate for any popular movements or incitement against any individual or party."

According to social media posts, protests demanding an end to the war and calling for Hamas to relinquish power were due to take place this week across the Strip including in Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat in central Gaza, and in the Jabalya refugee camp in the north. The stage is set for a tense stand-off between the Hamas ruling class and an increasingly defiant Gazan popular resistance to their rule.

More articles by Nagham Zbeedat

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