Hamas crushes ‘Peaceful Revolution’ protests in Gaza

Hamas clamped down on Gazans on Friday for attempting to protest against its rule over the Strip.

The demonstrations, titled the “June 26 Peaceful Revolution,” were planned to take place in several locations throughout the Gaza Strip, but the terrorist group’s arrests and intimidation tactics prevented the protests from gaining traction, U.S.-based newspaper The Algemeiner reported.

Hamas’s security apparatus detained or rounded up people at four hospitals in Gaza; 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, a resident of the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City told the newspaper.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity over fears for his safety, the man was cited as saying, “The situation in Gaza is very difficult. They are kidnapping people and threatening people. The level of terror is high. There are fatwas calling for killing and fatwas declaring people infidels in the mosques, and calls saying the protest movement has been postponed. Things are very difficult. Since the morning, they’ve been arresting people and kidnapping people from the streets. Things are very bad.”

The Association of Palestinian Scholars, a Palestinian religious body, warned that those linked with the protests will be deemed collaborators with Israel, a crime punishable by death under Hamas’s rule, according to The Telegraph.

A debate on social media raged in the wake of the events, with Hamas supporters accusing the organizers of the demonstrations of being handled by an Israel Defense Forces Arabic-language spokesperson, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, Ynet reported.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the Gaza-born senior fellow of the U.S.-based think tank Atlantic Council, said that Hamas deployed at least hundreds of its operatives across Gaza to suppress the protests, resulting in “eerily empty” streets.