'Hamas out, out!' Mass protests in Gaza continue for second week as Hamas appears to lose its grip

Mass protests against Hamas’ rule of terror in the Gaza Strip returned on Wednesday, after last week saw the first significant protests against the terror group since the start of the war almost a year and a half ago.

Footage circulating on social media showed hundreds, if not thousands, rallying in different areas of the enclave, shouting slogans like “Hamas out, out, out,” and “Enough death.”

Gaza-born American activist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib shared several videos and pictures on 𝕏. “New massive anti-Hamas demonstrations in northern Gaza are demanding an end to the war that the terror group started. They want Hamas to step down and "get out" - Men, women, the elderly, children, and wounded folks came out, desperate to make their voices heard!”

New massive anti-Hamas demonstrations in northern Gaza are demanding an end to the war that the terror group started. They want Hamas to step down and "get out" - Men, women, the elderly, children, and wounded folks came out, desperate to make their voices heard! pic.twitter.com/pqWZJixeym

— Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (@afalkhatib) April 2, 2025

According to the footage on social media, demonstrations again appeared to cluster in the northern part of the enclave, particularly in Beit Lahia.

The large-scale demonstrations began last week but were halted over the weekend and the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

On Tuesday, residents’ anger was further fueled when the IDF called on Beit Lahia and nearby neighborhoods to be evacuated ahead of airstrikes coming in response to a rocket launch toward Sderot, which was intercepted without injuries on the Israeli side.

למרות המקרים של הוצאה להורג של מפגינים בידי חמאס - בהפגנה בבית לאהיא: נשמעות קריאות "חמאס החוצה, החוצה" pic.twitter.com/CFbP2A0KXT

— ספיר ליפקין | Sapir Lipkin | سابير ليبكين (@sapirlipkin) April 2, 2025

The protests have been widely interpreted as a phenomenon of growing dissent against the Hamas-led government, emboldened by increased despair caused by the total cut-off of aid by Israel, as well as renewed IDF airstrikes and ground offensives across the enclave.

However, many Gazans specifically want to end the war, without being especially pro-Israel or showing signs of rejecting Hamas' ideology.

“People are fed up with Hamas’ attempt to use their bodies, their lives, as a tool to make political and even financial gains from this war,” Muhammad, a young Gazan, told the Jewish Insider.

“These protests were very openly and obviously asking Hamas to step down, get out of the political and military picture in Gaza,” he explained.

On the other side, clan elders in Beit Lahia this week declared their support for demands for an end to the war, but also reaffirmed their general support of the armed struggle against Israel.

Speaking to the Associated Press, a medic from Jabaliya who lost large parts of his immediate family, criticized both Hamas and Israel: “Stop this war. Stop these massacres.”

He also accused Israel of trying to exploit the protests for its own benefit. The protests, he said, are “mainly against Israel before it’s against Hamas."

Several notable incidents lately have highlighted that Hamas’ internal security services seem to have lost their grip on the population.

On Tuesday, the Abu Samra clan took violent revenge and publicly executed a Hamas operative after he had killed a young man belonging to the clan. Footage of the execution quickly went viral.

“This is a new thing that did not happen in 18 years of Hamas rule,” Muhammad noted, and several similar incidents followed.

The next day, another family accused Hamas police of killing a relative in Gaza City and also vowed retaliation against the terror group. “The blood of our son will not be in vain,” the family said in a statement.

Also on Wednesday, Palestinian sources reported that Hamas shot and killed a man from the Shejaiya neighborhood as part of a belated but brutal crackdown against protesters.

The reports said that the man was the son of a mukhtar, a clan leader, and heavy exchanges of gunfire broke out between family members and Hamas operatives.

According to Muhammad, the end of the war must include the removal of Hamas from power.

“If the war would end now but Hamas would stay in Gaza, we will see another Oct. 7 because Hamas would do it again and again,” he warned.

“We are asking Hamas to send back all the hostages and get out of Gaza, because those are the Israeli demands to end the war.”