^{Palestinians attend an anti-Hamas rally calling for an end to the war, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 25, 2025. (AFP)}

Hundreds of Palestinians protested against Hamas rule and against the war in at least three locations in Gaza on Tuesday, in a relatively rare occurrence in the Strip due to the terror group’s often violent suppression of political dissent.

Footage showed around 100 residents of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, holding a protest calling for an end to the war and an end to Hamas’s governance, with some demonstrators carrying signs reading “Stop war” and “Children in Palestine want to live.”

Additionally, a few video clips captured residents chanting “Hamas out,” “Hamas terrorists,” “The people want to overthrow Hamas” and “Yes to peace, no to the ongoing war.”

One gathering of residents took place in front of the Indonesian Hospital. Some of the protesters carried white flags.

“I don’t know who organized the protest,” said Mohammed, a demonstrator who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals.

“I took part to send a message on behalf of the people: Enough with the war,” he said, adding that he had seen “members of the Hamas security forces in civilian clothing breaking up the protest.”

Majdi, another protester who did not wish to give his full name, said the “people are tired.”

“If Hamas leaving power in Gaza is the solution, why doesn’t Hamas give up power to protect the people?” he asked.

Hours after the first protest, another anti-war and anti-Hamas demonstration was held in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, with dozens of demonstrators burning tires and chanting, “We want to eat.”

As news of the protests spread, other demonstrations broke out across Gaza, including one in the major southern city of Khan Younis, where protesters were filmed chanting “down with Hamas,” and calling for an end to the fighting.

Hamas did not officially comment on the protests, but some media outlets in Gaza, including those associated with the terror organization, published photos and videos from the events under the framing “demonstration for stopping the war” without mentioning the calls for the terror group’s downfall.

Protests are relatively rare events in Gaza, especially against Hamas, which has maintained an iron grip on the Strip since it ousted the Palestinian Authority from the territory nearly two decades ago.

While there have been more public statements by individuals in Gaza against Hamas rule since the war started, large-scale demonstrations against the group have been almost nonexistent.

The last documented protest in the Strip against Hamas took place in January 2024, when Palestinians in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis called for an end to the war, the end of the terror group’s rule over Gaza and the release of the Israeli hostages.

Before the war, anti-Hamas protests were also relatively rare events, and were often suppressed violently by the terror group.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which was sparked by the brutal October 7, 2023 terror onslaught, has killed over 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The figures are not independently verified and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Israel said it had killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7, and has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Source: Nurit Yohanan, The Times of Israel