In a rare and perilous public show of anger against Hamas, hundreds of Palestinians marched through Beit Lahia in northern Gaza this week, demanding that the militant group relinquish control of the territory and end the war with Israel, according to four witnesses.
The march on Wednesday appeared to be the latest of a handful of such protests that have broken out in the last two weeks, despite Hamas’s efforts to suppress dissent with threats and shows of force. Witnesses said it was the first of the protests in Beit Lahia that women joined, some bringing their children.
Taken together, the demonstrations, while small and scattered, represent the most serious challenge to Hamas’s iron-fisted 18-year rule of the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. The overwhelming Israeli response that followed has ripped apart the territory and residents’ lives, killing tens of thousands. The bloodshed resumed after Israel ended a two-month-old cease-fire agreement in mid-March, citing Hamas’s refusal to accept Israeli demands.
Palestinians began marching about a week later in Beit Lahia, a farming community in the northernmost part of Gaza, and then in other parts of the enclave. The protests lasted for three days before appearing to fade.
Activists posted on social media this week calling for new rallies. Demonstrators assembled in Beit Lahia’s main square and marched toward another square, protesters said in interviews. They gave varying estimates of the rally’s size, from about 1,000 to 1,500.
“We have lost our homes, our loved ones, our hope and our future. Enough is enough,” said Abeer al-Radeea, 34, a homemaker who said she went to Wednesday’s demonstration with her husband and children. “We call on Hamas to stop this and leave us. We don’t know when this will end, but we want peace and democracy.”
The march went forward despite widespread fear in Gaza of Hamas, which in the past has cracked down violently on challenges to its rule. After the recent protests, however, Hamas’s response has appeared more muted, reflecting what analysts said was both the group’s fear of further inflaming an already angry population and its diminished ability to mobilize forces, with thousands of its members killed and with Israeli drones and warplanes overhead.
But the threat of retribution by Hamas remains.
On Friday, one of the protesters, Oday al-Rabi, 22, was abducted overnight by Hamas operatives from a shelter for displaced people in Gaza City, according to his brother, Hassan.
Hassan, 32, said he received a call hours later to pick up his brother from Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City. He said Oday was bruised, bloodied and barely able to walk or talk.
“My whole brother’s body was blood,” he said, adding that the Hamas operatives were dragging him with a leash. “It was as if I didn’t know him.”
The operatives said that anyone who “curses” Hamas’s military wing would meet the same fate, Hassan said. He took his brother to another nearby hospital, but Oday died a few hours later.
Hassan said he believed his brother had been targeted both because of his participation in protests and because of his history of criticizing Hamas. About a month ago, Oday was attacked by a group of Hamas members, but they ran away when he pulled a knife on them, Hassan said.
Hamas officials and a spokesman for the Hamas-run government in Gaza did not respond to requests for comment.
Protesters on Wednesday included Raed al-Masri, 44, who said that masked Hamas members had been stationed on some corners, holding truncheons and sticks.
Two days after a previous protest, the Hamas-run internal security force in Gaza summoned Sharif al-Buheisi, 56, to a tent in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza. Mr. al-Buheisi is an activist in Fatah, Hamas’s rival political faction, and served as an administrator at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City before the war.
Two officers delivered a threat, suggesting he would regret participating in future protests, Mr. al-Buheisi said in a phone interview.
“This is not the time for protests — they’re stabbing the resistance in the back,” Mr. al-Buheisi recalled being told. “If you go out again, the result will not be good.”
After consulting with his family, Mr. al-Buheisi said he decided to stay away from further protests. It was a bitter reminder, he said, of how civilians in Gaza were trapped.
“We’re persecuted by both sides,” he said. “Israel bombs us without mercy and Hamas doesn’t care if we die.”
Mr. al-Masri said that several of his cousins had also received Hamas threats after recent marches. One received a phone call from a private number summoning him to meet on Tuesday with Hamas security officials, who interrogated him about his involvement, asked about protest supporters and organizers, and forced him to sign a document saying he would stop protesting, Mr. al-Masri said.
Others ignored such calls.
At Wednesday’s protest, many demonstrators were driven to march by hunger, participants said. Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza for a month, forcing bakeries to close, markets to empty and aid groups to cut food distribution. Gaza residents say that what produce remains is exorbitantly expensive.
One child at Wednesday’s demonstration yelled that he wanted something to eat, Ms. al-Radeea said. Another protester held up a piece of an onion, shouting that he had been eating only onions and radishes for more than a week, said Basem Hamouda, 47, a farmer who was there.
For their desperation, the protesters blamed Israel — but also Hamas.
“Those who cannot provide their people with a loaf of bread have no right to start a war in the name of liberation,” Mr. Hamouda said.
He and others said Hamas should do a better job of holding down food prices by stopping merchants from hoarding supplies, a common complaint in Gaza.
“Hamas has given Israel a pretext to continue this war while failing to regulate and control market prices,” he added. “That is the real cause behind these protests.”
Ameera Harouda contributed reporting from Doha, Qatar.
