Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim’s remarks, made in response to a question during an interview with a Qatari TV channel, indicated that Hamas can no longer ignore the phenomenon and that its response strategy, for now, is to try to frame the protests as anti-war and anti-Israel rather than anti-Hamas
The demonstrations have indeed included voices 1. condemning the war due to the prolonged suffering in Gaza, 2. but also direct calls for the overthrow of Hamas, 3. holding it to blame for the current situation in the Strip.
“Hamas is too smart to come out and crush the protesters with force,” Hawidi argued. “It knows the whole world is watching these protests now. It aims to dismantle the protests by framing them as demonstrations against the war rather than against Hamas.”
