PROTESTS SPREAD
Videos on Wednesday, whose authenticity Reuters could not verify, showed protests in Shejaia in the north where the rallies began, but also in the central Gaza areas of Deir Al-Balah, indicating the protests were spreading.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has promised Hamas’ total elimination, said the rallies showed its decision to renew the military offensive in Gaza after a ceasefire was working.
Hamas police, the group’s enforcers, are again off the streets.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz urged Gaza residents to keep expressing their discontent.
“Learn from the residents of Beit Lahia,” he wrote on X, referring to the first protest. “Just as they did, demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages – this is the only way to stop the war.”
A Palestinian official with a Hamas-allied militant group said protests were allowed – but not cooperation with Israel.
“Those suspicious figures try to exploit legitimate protests to demand an end to the resistance, which is the same goal as Israel’s,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
“We don’t threaten our people, we adore their sacrifices, but there are some suspicious figures who cooperate with the goals of the occupation, they want to exempt the occupation of responsibility and disgrace the resistance.”
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli campaign in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.
It was launched after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Much of the narrow coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.
