For the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, almost a year and a half ago, several hundred Gazaouis demonstrated their anger against Hamas. The protest left Tuesday of Beit Lahia, in the north of the Palestinian enclave, before winning Gaza-Ville, Jabalia in the north and Khan Younès in the south the next day. Some slogans and signs called Hamas to give in power.
“It’s more than just anger, it’s almost a cry of despair of the Palestinians in Gaza. The Gazaouis are at the end. Some have even taken the risk of manifesting with an open face with panels such as “Hamas outside”, “Hamas terrorists” or even “we do not want to die” ”observes David Rigoulet-Roze, associate researcher at IRIS and editor-in-chief of the Strategic Orients Review.
The civil demonstrations of this magnitude against Hamas, which has been the reins of power since 2007, are rare in Gaza. “There may have been in the past, but they have always been repression by Hamas, which does not seem to be the case for the moment. The ulterior point would be to prevent the protest from coming to crystallize against him ”, analyzes the geopolitologist.
Only 20 % of Gazaouis say they support Hamas
According to a study by the University of Oxford with the Palestinian PSR survey Institute last January, only 20 % of Gazaouis still said that the Islamist movement supported. For his part, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, repeatedly repeated that he wanted neither Hamas nor Fatah, the Palestinian Rival party who asked Hamas to access the request of the street and to leave power.
“The real substantive question is the identity of a possible political governance in Gaza for” the day after “. However, there is currently no credible alternative to Hamas. Its leaders are perfectly aware of it and logically play on it to keep themselves in power ”advance David Rigoulet-Roze.
The question of a possible political outcome to the conflict within the Palestinian enclave therefore remains unanswered. Especially since the fate of the last hostages still alive selected in Gaza is increasingly uncertain. Twenty-four of them, in the hands of Hamas for more than sixteen months, are still alleged alive. “Hamas objectively has no interest in freeing all hostages. If he no longer has this card, he no longer has any negotiation lever with Israel. It’s a bit of a quadrature of the circle ”, Decrypts our interlocutor.
