By Sudarsan Raghavan

In a rare protest against Hamas, hundreds of Palestinians took the streets in a northern Gazan town on Tuesday, venting their frustrations openly for the first time since the start of the 17-month war that has left much of the enclave in ruins.

"Out, Out, Out, Hamas out," the crowd of mostly young men chanted, some waving white flags, in a video posted on social media.

The demonstrations began spontaneously in Beit Lahia during a funeral and spread to the nearby Jabalia refugee camp. By nightfall, Palestinians in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, had also taken to the streets to denounce Hamas. While their size was limited, they were a notable sign of discontent with Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that left around 1,200 dead, another roughly 250 taken hostage and sparked the war that has devastated Gaza.

Hamas, which governed Gaza for almost two decades before the war left many of its leaders dead and others on the run, had long squelched public displays of anger at its authority. While the militant group still retains control, Tuesday's demonstrations showed how its hold on at least some parts of the population of more than 2 million has weakened as the war's costs add up.

"Hamas is demanding our people to remain steadfast," said one man filming the protest and posting the video he narrated on X. "But how can we remain steadfast when we're dying and bleeding? Hamas must stop what is happening in Gaza."

"We're sending a message to the entire world: We reject the rule of Hamas," he added.

Shortly after the demonstrations began, residents in Gaza received text messages from Israeli authorities saying that "the solution is in your hands, and Hamas is insisting on taking you to hell."

Not everyone supported the protesters. Some people in Gaza took to social media to criticize the gatherings and said they served Israeli interests.

"These are sedition marches, even if carried out by tent dwellers," wrote one person on Facebook.

In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, people chanted, "Shame, shame -- you sold Gaza for dollars," according to video posted on social media. "Hamas is a terrorist (group)."

Some protesters in Beit Lahiya also openly criticized the Qatari network, Al Jazeera, saying its reports were too favorable toward Hamas and didn't showcase Palestinians in Gaza who were critical of Hamas and wanted the war to end.

More than 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to Palestinian health authorities, who don't say how many were combatants. Most of those who survived have been displaced repeatedly by the fighting and have suffered from shortages of food, water and hygiene.

Israel shattered a two-month cease-fire last week by returning to fighting with waves of airstrikes and incursions by ground troops, saying Hamas had failed to release hostages remaining in Gaza. Hamas in turn accused Israel of failing to uphold commitments to begin talks on a permanent end to the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his new national-security team are planning a major ground offensive in Gaza, according to people familiar with the matter. They believe that capturing and holding swaths of territory will allow them to finally defeat Hamas.

Months before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, thousands of Palestinians protested the Hamas leadership's inability to solve chronic power outages and poor economic conditions. Mass demonstrations over the economy also erupted in 2019.

Tuesday's protests come as Gaza residents were just beginning to experience hints of normalcy as restaurants opened and wedding planners got busy before the fighting resumed. Now, with the resumption of war, daily life has once again crumbled, pushing the collective frustration into the open.

People on social media called for the protests to resume Wednesday in different parts of Gaza.

Fatmeh Wahid, 37, a resident of Al-Nusairat and a mother of three, said she felt good that people were finally out on the streets. "This demonstration was not dispersed by power, which reflects that Hamas is no longer powerful as it was before the war."

"It should not be only in Beit Lahia or the north, everyone in Gaza should go against Hamas and the war, we are fed up," she said.

"The world needs to know that not everyone in Gaza is Hamas, we want to live in peace, we don't want anything more," she added.

Write to Sudarsan Raghavan at sudarsan.raghavan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 25, 2025 17:14 ET (21:14 GMT)

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