Anti-Hamas protests in South Gaza enter the third day

Palestinians gone the third day on the street in the south of Gaza to protest against Hamas.

Hundreds of demonstrators were seen in videos placed on social media, putting an end to the war and for removing the armed group from Gaza. “Out! Out! All Hamas, out!” They sang.

Speaking against Hamas can be dangerous in Gaza and threats distributed on Tuesday on the WhatsApp groups of journalists, which forbids them to “publish negative news that the moral of people could influence”.

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

The demonstrators directed their anger about Hamas’ leadership after an interview with high official Sami Abu Zuhri circulated on social media.

Speaking on a podcast that was originally broadcast at the end of March, he said that the war with Israel was “eternal”, and added: “We will rebuild the houses and produce dozens of more babies for every martyr.”

Videos from the protests in Khan Younis show that young men criticize Hamas for selling their “blood for a dollar … to those with Hamas, keep in mind that Gaza people will dig your grave”.

In recent months, protests against Hamas have increased in northern Gaza, but activists say that the presence of the group in the south has remained strong and has successfully suppressed the public abnormal opinion.

International journalists, including those with the BBC, are blocked by Israel by reporting in Gaza and the Anti-Hamas sentiment remains difficult to assess from far.

Israel has carried out daily air strikes on Khan Younis since Monday The Israeli army has published residents With one of the greatest evacuation orders this year, telling those in the eastern half of the city says to go to Kampen in the Al-Mawasi area on the coast.

A man we call Alaa was one of those who started the protests. He agreed to speak with the BBC on condition of anonymity, for fear of Hamas’s reprisals.

“People no longer care about Hamas’ attempts to suppress their voice because they literally die from hunger, evacuation and the bomb attacks,” he said.

Alaa, originally from North Gaza, said that in the course of the 19-month war he had to move around 20 times and not afford to buy a tent for shelter.

Previously imprisoned because he participated in Anti-Hamas protests in 2019, Alaa said that Hamas should leave.

“Resistance was not born with Hamas, and even if Hamas has disappeared, there will be other faces of resistance (against the Israeli occupation). But this current policy costs us all Palestine and the nation.”

“We just want our children to live in peace, and we give a message to the whole world, to do their best when putting Israel and Hamas under pressure, so that we can save ourselves and our children from this war.”

In Gaza, public criticism of Hamas entails considerable risks.

In March, 22-year-old Oday A-Rubai was abducted and tortured to death by armed shooters after they participated in Anti-Hamas 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 Nasser Hospital approached on Monday, a group of men told them to stop.

“There was a man who wanted to take off his gun, but his friend stopped him. They couldn’t do anything because they were in the minority because of the number of demonstrators.”

Moumen al-Natour, a lawyer, former political prisoner and co-founder of the Anti-Hamas protest movement, we want to live, said: “Pushing the fatigue, effort and costs of moving to Hamas who refuse to transfer and transfer their weapons.”

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

More than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-Runned Health Minister, 82 of them in the last 24 hours.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas after the cross -border attack of the group on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were returned to Gaza as hostages.