Palestinians: 'We Are Dying Because of Hamas'

By Gatestone Institute | Created at 2025-03-20 10:06:12 | Updated at 2025-03-20 22:15:27 12 hours ago

Palestinians are again paying a heavy price as a result of Hamas's refusal to release the remaining 59 Israeli hostages (almost half of whom are believed to be dead) held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. On that day, thousands of Hamas terrorists and ordinary Palestinians invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and wounding thousands others. Another 251 Israelis – alive and dead – were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.

Since then, Hamas could have avoided much of the death and destruction it brought on the Palestinians by simply releasing all the hostages, laying down its weapons and relinquishing control of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, however, chose to drag the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip into a war that has claimed the lives of thousands and destroyed large parts of the coastal strip.

The US-brokered ceasefire-hostage deal, announced in January, provided Hamas with an opportunity to release all the hostages and end the war with Israel. Instead, Hamas chose to humiliate the hostages (and all Israelis) by publicly parading them while handing them over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

During the disturbing displays, masked gunmen in military uniform from Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups reappeared on the streets for the first time since the beginning of the war. During the war, some of the terrorists, pretending to be innocent civilians, got rid of their military uniforms and hid their weapons, and many found shelter among displaced families in humanitarian zones throughout the Gaza Strip. Others spent most of the time hiding in tunnels, where many of the Israeli hostages were (and still are) held.

The ceasefire-hostage deal collapsed on March 18 because Hamas is evidently not prepared to release all the hostages, disarm and cede control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas considers the hostages an asset and "insurance policy" for holding onto power.

Hamas says that it wants a commitment from Israel that it will end the war while allowing the terror group to remain in control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas also said it wants guarantees from international parties, including the US, that Israel would abide by such a commitment. Hamas, in other words, is saying that it wants to retain control of the Gaza Strip so that it can use the territory to launch more terrorist attacks against Israel in the future. Its leaders have already threatened to carry out more massacres against Israelis.

MEMRI reported on November 1, 2023:

"Ghazi Hamad of the Hamas political bureau said in an October 24, 2023 show on LBC TV (Lebanon) that Hamas is prepared to repeat the October 7 'Al-Aqsa Flood' Operation [October 7 attack,] time and again until Israel is annihilated."

Hamad stated:

"Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country... The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth... "

Hamas leaders have also repeatedly made it clear that their terror group has no intention of laying down its weapons.

On March 9, 2025, at a Hamas event in Egypt honoring Palestinian prisoners released by Israel as part of Phase 1 of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, senior Hamas official Khaled Mashaal said that the Palestinians would never disarm and warned of a large "plot" threatening the "future of the Gaza Strip, its administration, regime, and weapons, and the resistance in it." He added:

"The path of jihad and resistance is the way to regain the homeland, honor, and freedom, and to free the prisoners [from Israeli jail]. The world respects only the strong."

Also in March, another senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, stressed that his group was absolutely opposed to relinquishing its weapons and the "armed struggle" against Israel. "The weapons of the resistance are a red line," Abu Zuhri cautioned. He added that any discussion of disarming Hamas is "nonsense" and that the issue is "not up for bargaining, discussion, or negotiation."

Some Hamas leaders have indicated their readiness to accept a "technocratic" government in the Gaza Strip. For them, however, this does not mean that Hamas would end its rule over the Gaza Strip. Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanoua said that his group must approve the government's members and its mandate. He clarified that the notion of Hamas completely withdrawing from governance is "inaccurate."

Hamas is seeking to emulate the Lebanon model, where the Hezbollah terrorist group, also backed by Iran, has been operating as a state-within-a-state for the past few decades.

Hamas leaders -- based in luxury hotels and villas in Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt -- appear in no rush to end the war. Many of them had fled the Gaza Strip together with their families during the past few years in search of a better life in Arab and Islamic countries. From their safe homes and offices, the Hamas leaders continue to issue fiery statements about their group's refusal to make concessions to end the conflict. "[Israel] is deluding itself if it thinks it could pressure us by escalating its military operations," said senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan in response to the collapse of the ceasefire-hostage deal.

Meanwhile, the only ones who are feeling the heat are the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. During the past few days, many Gazans took to social media to lash out at Hamas for refusing to release all the hostages and end the war. Such voices rarely find their way to Western media outlets. Although many Palestinians continue to support Hamas and the "resistance" against Israel, a growing number are speaking out against the terror group.

Mohammed Diab, a resident of the Gaza Strip, wrote:

"I appeal to Hamas to hand over the hostages and step down from any role in governing Gaza. Saving our blood is more important than your future."

Another Gazan, Abu Ezz Ahmed, said:

"Anyone who has even a grain of faith, conscience, patriotism, or morality, anyone who has even a grain of love for the people of Gaza, must raise their voice now and demand—immediately and without delay—that Hamas free Gaza for the sake of God by handing over the hostages and lifting its hand from Gaza. We are dying because of Hamas."

Palestinian human rights and peace activist Hamza Howidy wrote:

"What does it take to surrender? The human souls? We lost enough. The city [Gaza]? Totally destroyed...

"Yet Hamas refuses [to surrender]. Not out of strength, not out of strategy, but because surrender means facing their own failure. It means admitting that all of this—the loss, the destruction, the unimaginable suffering—was for nothing. And that is something they cannot bear.

"So they hold on [to power]. Not for the people, not for Gaza, but for themselves. Because to surrender would be to let go of the power they've built, the control they've maintained, and the narrative they've spun for decades. They are not the ones searching for food in the rubble. They are not the ones watching their children die. They sit in safety while others pay the price.

"How much more is there to lose before they decide it's enough? Or is the truth that they never will—because the suffering of Gaza has never been their concern, only their weapon."

Ahmad, a social media user from the Gaza Strip, scoffed at Hamas terrorists for going into hiding after the collapse of the ceasefire-hostage agreement:

"Come on, heroes of the parades on the rubble of houses, come on, sons of [Hamas's armed wing Izz a-Din] Al-Qassam. They all take off their military uniforms and wear civilian clothes and slippers and hide among the displaced people and the tents."

Palestinian journalist and author Ranem El Ali:

"I declare my disbelief in this resistance, and I disavow Hamas and its ideology. Hand over the prisoners, you 'victorious' beasts. Enough martyrs and death. Damn those who voted for you [in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election]."

"Who entrusted these mentally ill people (Hamas) with the lives of the people of Gaza?," asked a social media account called "From the Heart of the Gaza Strip."

"Who gave them the right to decide the fate of two million people? Hamas would rather uproot lives than disarm, would rather cause destruction than retreat, would rather hand over the Gaza Strip to the monster of darkness than give its people a glimmer of hope!"

Commenting on the increasing criticism of Hamas, Egyptian political analyst Khaled Hassan said:

"I've never seen that many Gazans angry at Hamas.

"For the first time in my life, the overwhelming majority of Gazans are treating them with the contempt they deserve.

"I can confidently say that the majority of Gazans I saw commenting online said they want the hostages released in exchange for a return to the ceasefire.

"In my view, this is big.

"The military pressure is working."

While such voices emanating from the Gaza Strip are positive and encouraging, they are not enough to remove Hamas from power. If the Palestinians living there want to end the war, they must revolt against Hamas and provide Israel with information about the whereabouts of the hostages. Sadly, most Palestinians seem unwilling to do so, either out of fear of Hamas or because they simply identify with the terror group and its goal of destroying Israel.

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.

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