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‘Yes To Love, No To Terrorism’: Anti-Hamas Protests Reignite In Gaza Despite Hamas Threats And Violence
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
Palestinians in Gaza again protested against Hamas on Wednesday after the initial wave of protests died down earlier this month amid Hamas threats and brutal violence against those who participated.
Crowds of Palestinians marched in Beit Lahia, which is in northern Gaza, on Wednesday chanting “Hamas out, out!” and “We don’t want a Qatari tent—we want to live in freedom.” Other chants included, “Yes to love, no to terrorism, yes to peace” and “Deliver the message… all of Hamas is garbage.”
One protest leader explained, “We want to live in peace—we don’t want more wars.” Based on videos of the protests, it appears hundreds may have been in attendance.
Soon after the protests started, members of Hamas showed up in masks with pro-Hamas messages on posters such as “Beit Lahia with the resistance.” Photos and videos of the pro-Hamas agitators circulated on Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood-aligned social channels. However, the protesters quickly kicked out those who aimed to distort what the aims of the protests truly were.
Hamas, which brutally seized full control of Gaza in 2007, sparked the current war in the Palestinian enclave when it invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages. The ensuing conflict has resulted in massive losses for Hamas but also created a humanitarian crisis among Gazan civilians.
Anger with Hamas among Gaza’s population is widespread. A recent poll from the Institute for Social and Economic Progress showed that only 6 percent of Gazans want Hamas to exclusively rule the enclave after the war, and even fewer said they would vote for them if elections were held today. However, 38 percent expressed support for a unity government, which would presumably include Hamas in power as part of a coalition with other Palestinian factions.
In late March, an initial wave of anti-Hamas protests broke out across Gaza, with thousands marching against the war and Hamas. The Assembly of Southern Gaza clans released a statement at the time 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.”
However, after a little less than a week of continuous protests, they died down , partly due to Hamas threats and violence against those who took part in them.
Additionally, there were 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 that Friday’s protests, which were supposed to be a part of a “Day of Rage.”
Hamas reportedly tortured a 22-year-old man, Uday Rabie, to death for speaking out against the group and attending the protests. Rabie’s brother, Hassan, told CNN that “They took him, they kept torturing him.” Rabie was reportedly tied by the neck with a rope
“They handed him over to me, and told me, in these words,” Hassan said. “This is the fate of everyone who disrespects Al-Qassam Brigades and speaks ill of them.”
Rabie died in the hospital shortly after.
The post ‘Yes To Love, No To Terrorism’: Anti-Hamas Protests Reignite In Gaza Despite Hamas Threats And Violence 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.