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Hamas Escalates Crackdown on Protesters Amid Growing Dissent in Gaza
Palestinians protest to demand an end to war, chanting anti-Hamas slogans, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, March 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Hamas has been persecuting Palestinians who participated in the recent wave of protests against the terrorist group in Gaza, executing six individuals and publicly beating others, according to local reports.
Earlier this month, anti-Hamas protests broke out across the war-torn enclave, with thousands of Palestinians demanding an end to the ongoing war with Israel and criticizing the terrorist group’s governance.
As Hamas seeks to reassert control and deter further dissent, several prominent demonstrators and social media influencers have gone missing, with local reports indicating some are being tortured and killed. Since last Friday, no new demonstrations have taken place.
Odai al-Rubai, a 22-year-old resident of Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood who had called for public demonstrations and criticized Hamas on social media, was among those killed.
According to local media, al-Rubai was abducted by the Palestinian terrorist group and returned to his family after being tortured for hours, as he was dying.
In a video statement, his family accused the killers of being “a sinful, rogue group affiliated with the Qassam Brigades,” the military wing of Hamas.
“They dragged him and tortured him to death with all kinds of hard tools,” the family said. “They killed him treacherously.”
On social media, Hamas loyalists have defended the group’s actions, accusing the demonstrators of treason.
The family of 22-year-old Odai Nasser Saadi Al-Rubai, who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Hamas militias, opened fire during his funeral and vowed to avenge his death.
Mourners turned the funeral into a protest against Hamas, chanting: “Hamas out, out!” pic.twitter.com/snKhFh6ZVH
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 29, 2025
Hamza al-Masri, a Gaza-based social activist who has been tortured by Hamas in the past and is now exiled in Turkey, said the crackdown was part of a broader effort to silence dissent.
“Just for asking to live, a Hamas military unit kidnapped several young men, including the helpless Odai,” al-Masri wrote in a post on X. “Hours after he was taken, he was returned to his family without life.”
Al-Masri also denounced the lack of free press in Gaza, saying “the world has no idea what’s happening.”
“There isn’t a single journalist in Gaza who can speak about the crimes being committed here,” he said.
Last week, the terrorist group, which has governed Gaza since 2007, said the protests were against Israel rather than Hamas, accusing Jerusalem of inciting the demonstrations and warning of punishment for those involved.
Hamas has a history of violently attacking those it considers to be “collaborators” with Israel. Earlier this year, the terrorist group executed 11 people for allegedly doing so in what its aligned media termed a “punishment of bullets.”
After several days of protests with hundreds if not thousands of participants, it remains uncertain how many people have gone missing, as Hamas focuses its efforts on cracking down on the demonstrations and reasserting control over the enclave.
The protests have featured anti-Hamas slogans such as “Down with Hamas, we’ve had enough,” “For God’s sake, Hamas out,” “we want an end to the war,” and “Hamas terrorists.”
Hamas’s nightmare has begun in Gaza: thousands are protesting, chanting, “Down with Hamas, we’ve had enough, Hamas!”. pic.twitter.com/u2oYlpvDQH
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 25, 2025
The Assembly of Southern Gaza clans released a statement against Hamas, saying, “Enough is enough — a popular uprising against injustice. No more playing with our lives, our children’s future, or disregarding our suffering. Gaza is not anyone’s hostage; Gaza will be liberated by the will of its people.”
Another statement, released by the clans of Shuja’iyya in northern Gaza, read, “We call on you to take to the streets in a popular march of anger rejecting the continuation of the war, and demanding the lifting of Hamas’s control over the Gaza Strip, so that life can return to its people and our ongoing suffering can come to an end.”
While Hamas is trying to silence dissent and crack down on the demonstrations, the group is also confronting Israel’s renewed operations as the Israeli military targets terror operatives in the territory.
On March 18, Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped by the terrorist group after the first phase of the ceasefire expired without an agreement to extend the truce.
During the first phase, which began on Jan. 19, fighting ceased for six weeks as Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages (25 alive and eight deceased) in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had been serving long sentences in Israeli prisons for terrorist activities.
The second phase was meant to include a complete Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists from Israel. However, negotiations faltered when Hamas rejected a US proposal to release additional hostages and extend the ceasefire while continuing to discuss a permanent resolution.
The post Hamas Escalates Crackdown on Protesters Amid Growing Dissent in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.