EDITORIAL — It was only a matter of time

It would seem that in the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, Hamas may not just have to deal with Israel only; they might have to deal with the Gazans themselves.

This after more and more Gazans appear to be speaking out against Hamas.

Last month saw the largest protest against the terrorist group by Gazans in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, with many of them calling Hamas “garbage” and to “get out”.

With open dissent against Hamas by Gazans usually punished with detention, torture, and murder, this protest, among many others, is seen as a strong show of defiance and desperation.

"The world thinks that Gaza is Hamas and Hamas is Gaza… We didn't choose Hamas and now Hamas is determined to rule Gaza and tie our fate to its own. Hamas must retreat," a BBC report quotes Moumen al-Natour, a Gaza lawyer and former organizer of the 2019 anti-Hamas "We Want to Live" movement, as saying.

We have always said that Hamas doesn’t speak for all of Gaza or all of Palestinians. And that Hamas is more of a de facto “governing body” as opposed to a de jure one; many Palestinians don’t support Hamas or just don’t have a choice that it is “leading” them.

But then it was Hamas that dragged Gaza and the entire Palestinian nation --and most likely without their assent-- into a war it couldn’t hope to win when it launched a terror attack against Israel last October 7, 2023.

What followed was months of war that has seen so much savagery and death that even Israel has been blamed for going above and beyond just fighting Hamas. As of early this month the number of dead has been placed at 52,000, including men, women, and children.

And now it would seem many of Gazans have had enough of Hamas. It was only a matter of time.

We aren’t sure exactly where things will go from here, but it would seem that perhaps soon Hamas may be fighting on two fronts; the Israel Defense Force as well as the very people they claim to protect, the very people in the last bastions they occupy.