The growing, courageous opposition to Hamas in Gaza is puncturing the myth pushed by its apologists around the world that Hamas and its allies are fighting for Palestinian rights.
For 18 years, Hamas beat, tortured and killed its opponents in Gaza to maintain its hold on power. It combined this brutality with an attempt to sustain a Nazi-like thug movement through indoctrinating young people to hate Jews and aspire to be “martyrs” in its reactionary war to destroy Israel.
But increasing numbers of working people in Gaza are speaking out against this course and blaming Hamas and its allies for precipitating the war that has decimated Gaza. Israel launched the war against Hamas after its death squads murdered 1,200 people in Israel Oct. 7, 2023, wounded thousands, took 251 hostages and raped dozens of women in the largest anti-Jewish pogrom since the Holocaust. Hamas vows to do the same “over and over again.”
“Hamas, out, out!” has been a popular chant at more than a dozen protests in Gaza since March 25, calling on Hamas to disarm and free the remaining Israeli and other hostages it holds. Hundreds marched again May 1 in several areas of Gaza, chanting “we want to eat.”
Hamas blames Israel — which stopped allowing food, fuel and medicine shipments into Gaza March 2 — for shortages and skyrocketing prices. Israeli officials and people in Gaza say Hamas has stockpiled a large part of the aid for its own use, along with selling much of it at inflated prices that most people can’t afford.
Hamas threatens protesters in Gaza
Hamas is stepping up threats against those who dare to oppose it. A leaked Hamas internal security report on the protests in northern Gaza admits “there is widespread public discontent.”
The report lists some 30 people Hamas is targeting for helping to organize the protests, especially in Beit Lahiya, a center of the largest actions. This includes members of Fatah, Hamas’ main rival; leaders of capitalist clans; small businessmen; and many workers, including some who worked inside Israel before Hamas carried out the Oct. 7 pogrom.
On May 1 Hamas released a statement saying it was planning “a large-scale campaign against traitors and spies.” A masked group of Hamas thugs in Gaza City used loudspeakers to threaten “anyone who says Hamas is finished.” It imposed a 9 p.m. curfew, saying any violator would be “considered a collaborator with the [Israeli] occupation.”
In a failed attempt to quell opposition, Hamas murdered at least 11 people in the first week of May alone, shot dozens in the legs and tortured others.
Divisions inside Hamas
But Hamas’ brutality is fueling opposition to its rule and causing division among its own supporters.
On April 30 masked men opened fire on a crowd near a United Nations Relief and Works Agency center in Gaza City. They were gathered in desperation looking for food. One of those they killed was Mohammed Hamdi Yassin, a member of a Hamas-affiliated clan.
The Yassin family issued an unusual public statement May 1, saying it would not “at this time cast accusations against any specific party.” But they demanded that the identity of the killer be revealed and “held accountable regardless of who backs him or how powerful they may be.”
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces has stepped up its military operations against Hamas. The IDF now controls at least 40% of Gaza. On May 4 it called up tens of thousands of reservists for its next offensive.
Israel’s security cabinet also approved a plan May 5 to resume humanitarian aid to Gaza, through as many as 10 distribution sites run by private U.S. security contractors, instead of U.N. and other aid agencies that have a record of collaborating with Hamas.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli army plans to evacuate all civilians from northern Gaza and send them to the southern part of the Strip. This would allow the Israeli forces to strike Hamas with fewer civilian casualties. But that would also create new challenges for working people in the north who are organizing to get rid of Hamas.
Ending Hamas’ rule is decisive for working people being able to organize to advance their own interests. It would help open the door to working people in Israel and throughout the region seeing that Jewish, Muslim, Christian and other workers have common class interests.
Seven-front war
Israel still faces serious threats in a seven-front war led by the reactionary bourgeois regime in Iran. Though greatly weakened — for now — Tehran is looking to rebuild its proxy forces, which includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Tehran-organized militias in Iraq and Syria, and terror squads in the West Bank. Decisive conflicts remain unresolved.
Getting through Israeli and U.S. anti-missile fire, a Houthi ballistic missile struck very close to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport May 4. Some 18 airlines temporarily cancelled their flights.
Tehran has financed, armed and trained the Houthi forces, who have declared that their goal is the “eradication” of the Jews and the “elimination of their entity [Israel].”
Despite previous, mostly unsuccessful Houthi attempts to strike Israel, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had refrained from attacking sites in Yemen at the request of President Donald Trump.
On May 5, 20 Israeli air force jets struck Yemen’s Hudaydah port, a conduit for weapons from Iran; factories used for building weapons and military infrastructure; and the airport in Sanaa.
Hours later, without notifying Israel, the White House announced a ceasefire deal with the Houthis, halting the U.S. rulers’ bombardment of areas of Yemen in exchange for an end to Houthi attacks on commercial shipping. Israel is not covered by the deal.
Washington’s military intervention in the Middle East is aimed at advancing stability for its own imperialist interests, and at winning Tehran away from ties with Beijing, the U.S. rulers’ main rival. For the capitalist rulers in Washington, Israel’s need to defend itself is subordinate to these goals.
U.S. negotiators are pressing for Tehran to agree to a deal that would put some limits on its stockpile of nuclear material, similar to the deal made by Barack Obama in 2015.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted Iran “has every right” to enrich uranium, a process whose only goal is getting nuclear weapons.
Nearly half of all the Jews in the world live in Israel alongside some 2 million Arab citizens of the country. Even one crude nuclear weapon could cause a new Holocaust. Netanyahu seeks Washington’s support, but acts on the fact that Israel must be ready to fight alone.
Working people everywhere should support Israel if it undertakes targeted strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear weapons capacity.