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Hamas Blames Israel for Gaza Protests Against Terror Group, Threatens Punishment for Demonstrators
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
As anti-Hamas protests continued in Gaza this week, the Palestinian terrorist group released its first reactions to them, blaming Israel for the demonstrations and threatening punishment for those participating in them.
“Demonstrations are expected from people facing extermination, against war and destruction,” senior Hamas official Basem Naim told the Qatari channel Al-Araby. “People are calling to stop the aggression, but the enemy and other parties with political agendas are diverting the spontaneous protests to serve the occupation’s [Israel’s] agenda and trying to portray it as if the demonstrators are against the resistance [Hamas].”
Naim, who is based out of Turkey, argued that the protests are not actually against Hamas, but rather the Israeli military campaign against the terrorist group in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the so-called “Palestinian Resistance Factions, an umbrella group of militant organizations including Hamas, released a statement from Gaza on Thursday.
In the statement, Hamas, which has fully governed Gaza since 2007, and allied groups in the Palestinian enclave accused the protesters of being “the occupation’s [Israel’s] lackeys.” It went on to accuse activists of “[refusing] to do anything but reveal their shame, their failure, their complicity and their cooperation with the occupation against our people and their cause, insisting on blaming the resistance and exonerating the occupation.”
Hamas also implicitly accused the protesters of being another arm in Israel’s war on the terrorist group.
“After the abject failure of all the plans and projects of the Zionist enemy against our Palestinian cause, whether by eliminating the Palestinian presence, displacement or starvation, and after 17 months of the war of genocide waged by the fascist occupation against our people in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read, “a group of the occupation’s lackeys refuses to do anything but reveal their shame, their failure, their complicity, and their cooperation with the occupation against our people and their cause, insisting on blaming the resistance and exonerating the occupation, ignoring the fact that the Zionist extermination machine is working without stopping even in the areas of security coordination, forgetting that the occupation considers the Palestinian existence itself to be the problem and not the resistance.”
The Palestinian groups then threatened punishment for those involved in the demonstrations.
“Those behind the suspicious movement caused the occupation to back down from its negotiating position in the last few hours because of its reliance on the success of these agents in stabbing the resistance in the back,” the statement read. “Therefore, these suspects are responsible, just like the occupation, for the bloodshed of our people, and they will be treated accordingly.”
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 this alleged crime in what its aligned media termed a “punishment of bullets.”
The difference in approach between Naim — who framed the protests as anti-Israel and anti-war rather than anti-Hamas — and the approach of Hamas and allied groups in Gaza — which suggested the protesters are collaborators or sympathizers with Israel — is rooted in an explicit rift between two factions inside Hamas.
“To clear Hamas’s view of the protests emerging from the Gaza Strip for the third day in a row, there’s a dispute between Hamas abroad and Hamas in Gaza in response,” wrote Palestinian anti-authoritarianism and pro-peace activist Hamza Howidy on X. “Hamas abroad issued a statement asking the militias in Gaza not to touch the protesters to avoid any international outrage and to work on shifting the narrative and the goals of the protests to make it sound as if it was only anti-war protests through their propaganda machines.”
“Hamas’s view in Gaza is a bit different,” Howidy continued, “as they are extremely concerned and even accused the protesters of being the reason behind Israel’s withdrawal from the negotiations and promised to punish everyone participating in the protests.”
Many of Hamas’s top political leaders live outside of Gaza in Qatar or Turkey, and at times they and the terrorist group’s military leadership in the Palestinian enclave can disagree tactically regarding their efforts to destroy Israel.
A document from Hamas abroad reportedly urged the terrorist group in Gaza not to take strong action against the protesters, and instead “to be patient in confronting these demonstrations and to direct them against the occupation.”
It continued, “It is also strictly forbidden to confront these demonstrations in any way, no matter how many slogans are chanted against the movement and the resistance, no matter how intense the slogans are.”
However, there have been reports of death threats and even attempted executions and kidnappings by Hamas targeting those participating in the protests. Hamas officials have also reportedly called activists and threatened them not to join Friday’s protests, which were supposed to be a part of a “Day of Rage.”
Protests against Hamas in Gaza are now in their fourth day. While the specific number of people who have taken part in them is unclear, there have been demonstrations across the Strip, and it appears hundreds of people have attended each one.
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.”
One Gazan said, “Their rule has destroyed us, killed us, and ruined our lives — and all of us here in Beit Lahia stand firmly to end Hamas’s rule.”
Ahmad al-Masri, a 26-year-old resident of Beit Lahia, where the first protest took place on Tuesday, reportedly said, “Hamas needs to go away,” warning that “if it doesn’t, the bloodshed, the wars, and the destruction won’t stop.”
The protests have garnered the support of university professors in Gaza, who argue they should be able to express their opinions freely.
Gazan clans both in the north and south of the Strip have also come out in support of the demonstrations. 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.”
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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