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Hamas officials characterised the widespread protests in Gaza calling for an end to the war and the group's removal from power as an Israeli attempt to put pressure on it to disarm.
Demonstrations by residents weary of the conflict intensified across the Gaza Strip this week, continuing for four days in a row in a rare display of public dissent against Hamas, which has ruled the territory with an iron fist for nearly two decades.
“This is an Israeli attempt to pressure Hamas into surrendering its weapons and withdrawing from the Gaza Strip,” a Hamas official told The National on Friday, in one of the group’s first comments on the demonstrations that have also called for opening the border for aid.
“A few hundred people took advantage of a protest by citizens against the war and for basic livelihood needs, due to the severe deterioration in living conditions,” added the official.
He explained that the protests “were not against Hamas or condemning it,” but “there were 200 to 300 paid demonstrators, backed by parties co-operating with Israel, who exploited the situation” and joined the main protests.
However, demonstrators – some holding banners reading “Hamas does not represent us” – told The National they were protesting against the continuation of the war, which has devastated their lives.
Hamas, which led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked the war, has controlled the enclave since 2006, and held no elections since then, partially due to a falling out with Fatah, the party that leads the Palestinian Authority.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed more than 50,000 people and left most of the enclave's buildings destroyed. When the first phase of a ceasefire began in January, many Palestinians travelled back to their homes to survey and salvage what was left after an Israeli ground invasion and thousands of air strikes. Now, Israel is once more issuing eviction orders from large areas of the enclave, displacing thousands once more.
The unprecedented demonstrations took place in Shujaia, Gaza city and Beit Lahia in the north, but have also spread to the central Gaza areas of Deir Al Balah. They were not met with resistance from Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government restarted its offensive against Gaza last week after two months of ceasefire, said the rallies showed its decision to renew the fighting was working.
“Some of the chants were suspicious, and the proof is how quickly the enemy’s Prime Minister rushed to exploit them for his war-related objectives,” said another senior Hamas official.
“Given the scale of what the Gaza Strip has endured throughout the war, it is natural that some voices would exploit people's suffering for political goals and to try to embarrass Hamas and portray it as solely responsible for the Palestinian people’s suffering, instead of the Israeli enemy and its crimes.”
Beyond the headlines: Where is Israel's renewed war on Gaza heading?
Israel has made eradicating the group one of its main war objectives but Hamas, which continues to hold dozens of Israeli hostages, has not been defeated.
The future governing of Gaza remains a central issue in continuing mediation efforts, as warring parties and negotiators seek a long-term solution that could transform the fragile ceasefire into a broader peace process. One potential pathway to ending the war involves Hamas relinquishing power and possibly disarming in Gaza.
Arab leaders who met in Egypt this month endorsed a plan for Gaza that envisions technocratic control of the war-battered territory without Hamas members and a $53 billion reconstruction plan.
“Hamas has previously announced its acceptance of the Egyptian plan endorsed by the latest Arab summit, which stipulates transferring administration of the Gaza Strip to a societal support committee,” affirmed the senior Hamas official.
“Hamas has no ambitions for political authority,” he claimed.
Egyptian proposals
As demonstrations to end the war continue, senior Egyptian mediators were in Qatar and Israel on Friday to discuss Cairo's latest ceasefire proposals with Israeli and Hamas negotiators, sources familiar with the matter told The National.
They said the Egyptians were proposing a 50-day humanitarian truce, with Hamas releasing at least five hostages, including a dual US-Israel national, before the end of the first seven days.
Also, before the end of the first week, Israel must announce its readiness to enter negotiations over the second stage of the ceasefire agreement agreed in January. Under the January agreement, those negotiations should be on a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the Gaza war.
The Gaza ceasefire that went into effect on January 19 ended on March 1, but the Palestinian territory remained relatively quiet until last week when Israel resumed air strikes and later launched a ground operation. Negotiations on the second stage of the deal were supposed to start in early February, but they never did.
Another track presented by the Egyptians is for Hamas to release at least five hostages, after which the two sides enter negotiations on a “comprehensive deal” that sees all hostages, as well as the bodies of deceased ones held by Hamas handed over to Israel, according to the sources.
The Egyptian proposals also included a US guarantee that the negotiations would end with an Israeli withdrawal as well as a permanent ceasefire. The resumption of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza and the release of yet an unspecified number of Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons are part of both tracks, the sources said.
Hamas, said the sources, also wants Israel to stop targeting its leaders in Gaza.
