Some Palestinians celebrated what they referred to as a jail break on October 7 as the Hamas-led assault on Israel began to spread.
But it was only a temporary increase for Hamas, whose aid among Gazans has been subpar for some time. The class and its leaders have remained generally unhappy in the colony because the Israeli onslaught has caused tens of thousands of deaths and widespread destruction. More Gazans have even been willing to speak out against Hamas, risking punishment.
In discussions with almost a hundred Gaza citizens in recent months, some of them claimed they held Hamas responsible for starting the battle and contributing to their death and destruction, even though they put Israel first and foremost at risk.
One Gazan, Raed albert- Kelani, 47, said Hamas often acts in its own passions.
According to Mr. al-Kelani, who worked as a legal maid for the past Palestinian Authority state in Gaza, which was run by a rival party to Hamas before Hamas seized control of the area in 2007, “it started Oct. 7 and it wants to end it on its own words.”
” But time is ticking with no possible promise of ending this”, he added. In Gazan refugee camps, Mr. al-Kelani then prepares dishes and distributes foods support. ” Hamas is also seeking its chunk of strength”, he said. Masa “does certainly know how to climb out of the trees.”
Some Gazans who spoke to The New York Times claimed that Hamas had no access to food, water, or shelter for the people who would be forced to flee the country because they knew it would start a disastrous war with Israel, which may result in serious civilian casualties. As a way to revitalize the Arab produce, Hamas leaders have stated that they want to start a continuous state of war with Israel on all sides and that the Jewish response will be significant.
Yet as Gazans were mourning loved ones who had been killed by Israeli episodes throughout the conflict, there have occasionally been hints of opposition. In order to prevent Hamas from winning the war and continuing to rule Gaza, some people waited until they left the area and even then were unwilling to do so.
Motaz Azaiza, a well-known journalist from Gaza, horizontally criticized Hamas after he left the country in March. One of the fresh local journalists who rose to prominence in the wake of the war’s failures by documenting the loss of social media was him.
He claimed in an ostensible allusion to Hamas,” If the dying and thirst of their people do not make any change to them, then they do not need to make any difference to us.” Cursed be anyone who trafficked in our body, burned our souls and houses, and ruined our life”.
Some Palestinians attacked him over the remarks, and Mr. Azaiza felt compelled to defend himself officially. However, some in Gaza concurred that he was voicing a mood that had grown throughout the conflict.
Before the war broke out, it was challenging to gauge public view in Gaza. For one, Hamas, which had long held control of the country, retaliated against those who criticized it and perpetuated a culture of fear through its harsh system of government.
Polling has become even more challenging as a result of the conflict, repeated contacts outages, and ongoing Israeli military offensives that have resulted in the displacement of the majority of the 2.2 million Gazans.
Nevertheless, some recent studies reveal that Hamas and its leaders have a limited or unbalanced assistance in Gaza. Conflicting results in some cases highlight the difficulties of surveying a transient population in the midst of war.
Gazans were asked how they felt about Hamas officials in a study conducted by the West Bank-based Institute for Social and Economic Progress in March. About three- quarters opposed Yahya Sinwar, the team’s Gaza- based head, and a comparable share opposed Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political head in exile.
Obada Shtaya, a Arab and the creator of the Institute for Social and Economic Progress, said,” When you realize six weeks in or seven times in which Gaza is entirely destroyed, your career as a Gazan is totally destroyed,”” that’s where people are coming from.”
Another surveys painted a more combined image. According to a poll conducted by the Arab Center for Policy and Survey Research in Gaza and released this year, there is a significantly higher support for Hamas officials there, and the percentage of people who are satisfied with Hamas authority in the place has increased since December.
However, it also revealed that Hamas ‘ continued rule over the region had slowed down in recent months.
Basem Naim, a Hamas spokeswoman, said that people support for Hamas in Gaza was no less than 50 percent. That includes Hamas individuals in Gaza— which he said numbered more than 100, 000 — and their families.
Are there any persons in Gaza who put the blame on Hamas? Of program”, he told The Times. ” We are n’t saying that 100 percent of Gaza residents are Hamas supporters or are happy with what happened”, he added.
In the end, he said,” some folks are for this natural issue in societies, while others are against.” And we welcome this place”.
In part because Hamas tries to live, and cling to power, some of the roughly one hundred Gazans who The Times spoke to about Hamas claim that this issue has lasted longer than any earlier conflict between Israel and an armed Palestinian party there. If it does, there is no guarantee that upcoming Israeli wars will not bring Gazans back into the same predicament.
Hamas says it will not consent to any cease-fire agreement with Israel that only leads to a temporary truce, worried that the conflict will resurface once the Israeli hostages are freed. The organization claims that it wants a permanent ban on fire.
According to Mr. Naim, elections should be held in order for Palestinians to choose their representatives if Hamas had such low popularity numbers as a result of the war. Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank of Israel have had few opportunities to voice their opinions in democratic elections over the past decades.
The two territories are geographically disjointed, and while Hamas has ruled Gaza for more than a decade, the more moderate Palestinian Authority still controls some of the West Bank.
The Fatah party, a rival to Hamas, lost a legislative election to Hamas in 2006. Hamas fighters seized control of the area after Fatah forces stormed Gaza the following year and forcibly retake it. Since then, the political conflict between Hamas and Fatah has largely slowed elections.
After Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah expressed concerns about potential restrictions on the voting by the Israeli government, Palestinian parliamentary elections were postponed indefinitely in 2021. There were also rumors at the time that Mr. Abbas might have delayed because he was concerned that Fatah might lose ground.
Mr. Naim blated Israel and the United States for obstructing previous Palestinian elections.
One Gaza resident who recently emigrated to Egypt with her family reported hearings from friends and family members frequently that they do not want the conflict to end before Hamas is defeated. She claimed that Hamas had put its own interests before the Palestinians ‘ rights that they claim to support and represent.
The woman, who requested anonymity because she was concerned about potential retribution if her criticism were made public, claimed that” they could have surrendered a long time ago and saved us from all this suffering.”
Even for Palestinians who chafed under Hamas’s iron grip on Gaza for more than a decade, Oct. 7 gave them a feeling, at least initially, that this was a battle of liberation from Israeli occupation. A large portion of Gaza’s population is either refugees or descendants of refugees who fled their homes in contemporary Israel after being expelled or forced to flee during the conflict leading to the establishment of the Israeli state. They have never been given the opportunity to return.
When Hamas attacked Israel, most Gazans supported that “form of resistance”, said a 26- year- old lawyer from Gaza who also asked not to be named.
The lawyer argued that what we do n’t support is the government continuing to wage this war even though none of the objectives they had set out to be met. ” This is n’t resistance. This is insanity”.
Hamas ‘ stated objectives for the attack were primarily centered on larger-scale Palestinian aspirations outside of Gaza’s borders. And some residents of the area have long believed that Hamas and Israel are attempting to advance their cause internationally while supporting more common Palestinian causes while supporting the country’s residents.
One of Hamas’s aims was to free Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, some of them from Gaza, but others from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Additionally, it wished to stop the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and to stop Israel from growing control over Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is one of Islam’s most holy sites.
Gazans said they felt that other Palestinians were winning their freedom at their expense the more Hamas pushed those goals rather than ending the war quickly.
” I do not want to sacrifice my life, my home and house for anyone”, Ameen Abed, a resident of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, said at the time of one of the prisoner releases.
Whom do you intend to impose on me this kind of life? My home has gone because someone’s imprisonment will end after four months, why”? he said. ” What did I benefit from”?
He claimed that while Hamas and even the Israeli hostages were in the underground tunnels, Gazans were above ground and unprotected from Israeli and American bombs that were dropped over their heads every day. That is an oft- heard complaint by Hamas’s critics in Gaza.
” There is uncontrolled anger against Hamas”, he said. The Palestinians were thrown into the well’s bottom, according to the statement.
Gazans More Willing to Speak Out Against Hamas appeared first on New York Times ‘ article As War Drags On.
