“Hamas is demanding our people to remain steadfast. But how can we remain steadfast when we’re dying and bleeding?

1. Hamas must stop what is happening in Gaza…
2. We’re sending a message to the entire world:
3. We reject the rule of Hamas.”
4. 'We will be the ones who decide who is in control'

One speaker at the protest proclaimed:
1. “Our message now is that we are a people of peace.
2. We demand a secure peace for this town,
3. and not to live under the steel and fire here.
4. We will be the ones who decide who is in control in this town.
5. We live under harsh conditions, so everyone must stand up to any foreign actors who want to destroy the destiny of this nation…
6. We say: yes to peace, no to the tyrant rule which threatens the destiny of our people.”

Another video saw the cameraman commenting, “Rivers of people are marching to end the rule of Hamas and stop the war on Gaza.”

Though extremely rare, this is not the first time an anti-Hamas protest takes place in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip since the war began, as January 2024 saw what appeared to have been smaller and more sporadic events.

Likewise, some of these slogans are reminiscent of the “Bidna N’eesh” (“We Want to Live”) movement, which led similar protests in 2020 and 2023 and which some suspected to have been coordinated by Hamas’s rival faction, Fatah.

In all cases so far, Hamas acted quickly and brutally to suppress these demonstrations