Photo: Depositphotos
On Tuesday, 25 March 2025, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of the northern Gaza Strip, chanting “Hamas out!” and demanding an end to the war. This rare public protest against the paramilitary group, which provoked the latest conflict with an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, was recorded on social media. Reuters reports.
North Gaza, one of the most devastated areas of the enclave, has been reduced to rubble. Most of the buildings in the densely populated area have been destroyed, and the population has been repeatedly forced to move to escape the fighting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to comment on the incident, saying that the protest demonstrated the success of Israel’s decision to resume its offensive on Gaza on 18 March. He noted that Hamas police, who had appeared during the ceasefire in January, had again disappeared after the fighting intensified.
A video of the protest posted on social media site X shows a crowd marching down a dusty street between destroyed houses in the Beit Lahiya neighbourhood. “Out, out, Hamas!” the participants chanted. A witness, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said: “It was a spontaneous rally against the war. People are tired, they have nowhere to go.” He added: “Many people were shouting slogans against Hamas, not all, but many. People are exhausted, and no one has the right to blame them.”
Reports of the protest began circulating on Tuesday evening. Reuters confirmed the location of the shooting behind the buildings, pillars
Hundreds of Palestinians protested in northern Gaza, demanding an end to the war and the expulsion of Hamas, with buildings and road markings matching satellite images of the area. The exact date of the video could not be established, but several videos and photos dated 25 March confirm the actions in Beit Lahiya. On Wednesday, footage of protests in Shejaiya, a suburb of Gaza City, where hundreds of people allegedly called on Hamas to resign, appeared on social media, which may indicate that discontent is spreading.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim acknowledged the right of people to protest against the suffering caused by the war, but condemned “suspicious political plans” to exploit the situation. “Where did they come from? Why aren’t they protesting against the aggression in the West Bank?” he asked, alluding to tensions with the Fatah movement, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. Earlier, Fatah called on Hamas to listen to the “voice of the people of Gaza”.
According to Palestinian officials, the Israeli campaign in Gaza has claimed more than 50,000 lives since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, when militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Much of the coastal enclave is in ruins, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tents or destroyed buildings. After a ceasefire in January, many residents returned to the north, but new evacuation orders are forcing them to flee again. “The whole of Gaza is in ruins, and the occupiers are ordering us to leave the north again. Where do we go?” a witness to the protests is outraged.
Since the resumption of Israel’s offensive to destroy Hamas, Palestinian authorities say about 700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed. Hamas deployed thousands of police officers during the ceasefire, but their presence has sharply decreased since Israeli attacks resumed. Analyst Akram Attallah noted that Hamas, which had previously suppressed the opposition, is now weaker and unlikely to be able to stop the protests if they intensify. “People are exhausted, paying with their lives and property, and it is difficult for the group to confront them against the backdrop of Israel’s offensive,” he said.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, ousting Fatah. Since then, the two factions have been unable to reach an agreement on the future of the enclave: The PA wants to take control of it, while Hamas is ready to relinquish control but wants to influence the choice of the new administration.
