Hamas Crushes Planned Gaza Protests Calling for End to Terror Group’s Rule

Planned “June 26 Peaceful Revolution” fizzles after arrests, threats, and religious ruling branding protesters as collaborators with Israel

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – Hamas moved aggressively Friday to suppress planned protests across the Gaza Strip, using arrests, intimidation, armed patrols, and threats of deadly punishment to prevent Gazans from publicly challenging the terror group’s rule.

The demonstrations, promoted by activists as the “June 26 Peaceful Revolution,” had been planned for multiple locations throughout Gaza. Organizers called on Hamas to disarm and hand civil administration of the territory to a transitional governing authority.

Instead, streets in several areas were reported unusually empty after days of pressure by Hamas security forces and affiliated terrorist groups. Residents and activists said fear spread across Gaza as suspected protest organizers and supporters were threatened, summoned, beaten, detained, or placed under house arrest.

According to reports, Hamas personnel were deployed across key areas of the Strip, including intersections and public gathering points, while attempting to avoid highly visible formal deployment because of concerns that Israeli forces could target operatives.

A Gaza resident from the Rimal neighborhood, speaking anonymously out of fear for his safety, said Hamas forces were “kidnapping people and threatening people,” adding that the atmosphere inside Gaza had become one of deep terror.

“They’ve been arresting people and kidnapping people from the streets,” the resident said, according to The Algemeiner. “Things are very bad.”

Reports said Hamas security personnel also detained or rounded up people at several hospitals, including Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza-born senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a critic of Hamas, said Hamas had deployed hundreds of operatives across Gaza to crush the planned demonstrations. He said the terror group’s police, intelligence units, and Al-Qassam Brigades militants were mobilized to prevent public dissent.

Alkhatib also alleged that Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as Baptist Hospital, had been used by Hamas as a site for interrogation, threats, and detention of people suspected of supporting the protests.

The planned demonstrations were also met with religious pressure. The Association of Palestinian Scholars issued a ruling warning against participation and accusing demonstrators of assisting Israel. Under Hamas rule, accusations of collaboration with Israel can carry the death penalty.

The warning appeared designed to silence Gazans by portraying protest activity not as civil dissent, but as treason.

One Palestinian in Gaza told The Telegraph that many people wanted change but feared being accused of plotting a coup or collaborating with Israel.

“People are afraid and exhausted,” the resident said.

The protest movement had appealed earlier in the week to governments, journalists, and human rights organizations to monitor events closely, warning that Gazans who sought peaceful assembly were already being targeted.

“The right to peaceful assembly and political expression is a foundational civil liberty,” organizers said. “The population of Gaza is entitled to exercise this right without fear of violent reprisal.”

The crackdown highlights the continuing grip Hamas maintains over Gaza nearly two decades after seizing control of the territory in 2007. While Hamas has long portrayed itself as the defender of Palestinians, critics inside and outside Gaza say the terror group has ruled through fear, silenced opposition, embedded its forces among civilians, and brought repeated devastation upon the people it claims to represent.

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