When an Israeli airstrike ripped through a building in central Beit Lahia on Monday night, the farming community in the northernmost part of Gaza was already on edge over an Israeli evacuation order hours earlier.
The events shook the town’s residents and reminded them of the perils of the war between Israel and Hamas, but they also helped catalyze rare demonstrations against Hamas in Gaza.
For three consecutive days, hundreds of people have marched through the town to demand both the end of the war and of Hamas’s 18-year-old rule over Gaza — public protests that have spread to a number other towns in the battered enclave.
“Hamas needs to go away,” said Ahmad al-Masri, a resident of Beit Lahia who helped call for the demonstrations. “If it doesn’t, the bloodshed, the wars and the destruction won’t stop.”
While most of the demonstrations have been small, they represent the boldest challenge to Hamas’s authority by Palestinians in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack on Israel of October 2023 and the ensuing war, which has reduced cities to rubble.
They also embody the frustration of Palestinians who are again living through ear-shattering and deadly bombing after Israel and Hamas failed to reach an agreement to extend the cease-fire. It makes clear that at least some Palestinians have put aside their fears about potential retribution by Hamas, which has governed Gaza with a heavy hand.
“We don’t have anything to lose,” said Mr. Masri. “We have already lost our lives, homes, and money.”
Before the 2023 attack, Hamas brutally clamped down on Palestinians protesting the miserable living conditions in Gaza and conducted reconnaissance on organizers. But during the latest protests, Hamas’s internal security forces have been largely nonexistent. Their absence, analysts said, was likely a reflection of both Hamas’s delicate position with Gazans and its reduced ability to mobilize forces under the threat of Israeli airstrikes.
“How can it confront this movement? With force? That would cause even greater anger,” noted Akram Atallah, a Palestinian analyst from the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya. Fearful that Israel could try to kill security officers, Hamas may not be able to deploy them, he added.
The first protest took place in Beit Lahia around 4 p.m. on Tuesday. The night before, community members sent around a message calling on residents to take to the streets.
“The square is calling on you,” said a screenshot of the message, shared with The New York Times. “Enough of wars. We want to live in peace.”
The message came shortly after Avichai Adraee, the Arabic-language spokesman of the Israeli military, posted an order for people to evacuate from Beit Lahia on his social media accounts. Not long after, an airstrike pounded into the town, residents said.
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