Hamas claims that the attack on October 7, which was the deadliest in Israel’s 75-year history, marked a turning point in the decades-long struggle for Palestinian nationhood, which had faded from the international agenda. Officials state that the group is making progress in its battle against Israel, as Israel has failed to achieve its war aims of destroying Hamas as a fighting force, eliminating its leaders, or rescuing their hostages. However, about 42,000 Palestinians have died and been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to figures from Gazan health authorities. Hunger is prevalent in displacement camps where more than a million people have sought shelter, Reuters reports.
An opinion poll published in mid-September by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), a think tank based in Ramallah and funded by Western donors, showed that for the first time, the majority of Gazans opposed the decision to attack. The poll, conducted in early September, found that 57% of people surveyed in the Gaza Strip said the decision to launch the offensive was incorrect, while just 39% said it was correct – down sharply from the previous poll in June.
Hamas has long been accused of crushing dissent in Gaza with beatings or worse. However, recent months have seen some rare public displays of dissent.
Former Hamas official Ahmed Youssef Saleh took to Facebook in July to ask whether anybody in Hamas had “studied and thought of the consequences” before launching an attack that invited Israel’s uncompromising invasion. Saleh’s post has since drawn hundreds of comments, with many adding their own criticism of the Islamist group. Saleh, who continues to post regularly, did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported. In July, Palestinian activist Ameen Abed, who had criticized the October 7 attack, was beaten by masked men and hospitalized. His father walked through the streets of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp using a loudspeaker to accuse Hamas of the attack.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, dismissed such criticism of the group as “limited remarks”. “Those remarks result from the pain and nothing more,” he told Reuters, adding that the spirit of the Palestinian people was far from breaking.
“We had no choice but to launch this major battle, regardless of the cost, because the Palestinian cause was about to end amid the growing aggression and the Israeli crimes against our people and our sacred sites,” he said.
Signs of dissent matter to Hamas, which aims to maintain its sway in Gaza once the war ends, despite the insistence of Israel and the United States that it can play no part in governing the enclave after the war.
Ashraf Abouelhoul, managing editor of the Egyptian state-owned paper Al-Ahram and a specialist on Palestinian issues, said the nature of any role for Hamas in a post-war Gaza would depend on how the conflict ended.
“Inside Gaza, the situation will be different and when people realize that Gaza has become unlivable, the support for Hamas will become less,” he said. However, he added that Iran could demand a future role for the militant group as part of a settlement of a broader regional conflict.
Palestinians blame Israel for their economic miseries, the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and for blocking their political aspirations for a Palestinian state with the occupied East Jerusalem as its capital. Many see the October 7 attack as a response to decades-long Israeli occupation and not a response to specific Israeli offensive or policies.
Team BharatShakti (With inputs from Reuters)
