Hamas cracks down on anti-Hamas dissidents in Gaza

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Mustafa Asfour, a Gazan activist who has lived in the United Kingdom for four years, and was one of the June 26 demonstration organizers, said in an interview that Hamas “launched a media campaign to discredit the movement, accusing it of betrayal, and targeting anyone” who participated.

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Two days before the planned protest, his contacts told him that Hamas pressured prominent families “to hold press conferences denouncing the June 26 movement,” and pro‑Hamas media then circulated statements in the names of major clans — including the Al‑Buhaisi, Daghmash, Abdul Aal, Al‑Najjar, Al‑Bureim, Miqdad, Asfour families and the Tarabin tribe — claiming they opposed the protests.

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“Many of these families later issued official statements saying they had never released such declarations and rejecting the statements attributed to them,” he said.

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Families received threatening phone calls warning them not to allow their children to participate, and displaced people were told that anyone who joined the protests would be expelled from the camps, he said. “The repression started before the protests, continued as they began, persisted afterwards and is still ongoing,” Asfour said.

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Asfour argued that NGO silence has only emboldened Hamas. He says he and others reached out to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, to draw attention to the planned protests, and warn against repression.

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There was no response, he said, except for the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The National Post was shown the letter in Arabic, a stock response of four lines acknowledging receipt of the complaint, saying the “matter raised by you is under follow‑up” by the center.

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Handout photo of Gazan dissident Kareem Joudeh, 30. Formerly of northern Gaza, now displaced to central Gaza, he works with World Central Kitchen’s humanitarian efforts. (Photo credit:Kareem Joudeh)

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Oueis says Jusoor News has documented graffiti on Gaza walls declaring support for the June 26 movement, and calling for Hamas’s ouster.

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According to Oueis’ sources, at least half of Gazans want Hamas out, “so they can get a better future, a better life.” That same number, she claimed, were in retrospect “unhappy with the Oct. 7 attacks.”

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Oueis accuses Hamas of worsening everyday life through diversion of aid, heavy taxation and a harsh crackdown on dissent.

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During “the worst days of hunger and lack of food in Gaza,” Oueis said, Jusoor interviewed residents who alleged that Hamas “hijacked every truck that came with food to Gaza, stored it in its own storage, stole this aid that’s coming from international organizations, and kept it.” They claimed the aid was then handed out selectively “only to their soldiers” and to pro‑Hamas communities, while those without a fighter in the family “won’t get aid.”

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She said “any merchandise that’s entering Gaza, Hamas is taxing it,” driving up prices on basic goods at a time when most people can least afford it.

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Since the start of the ceasefire last fall, Hamas has “captured and arrested” almost 200 activists and dissidents, she said, many accused of collaborating with Israel and some tortured to death. One of Jusoor’s own reporters, she said, was arrested, beaten “very badly,” and left unable to walk. “He’s paralyzed because he made this coverage, anti‑Hamas coverage from Gaza.” Her team interviewed Gazans who were tortured for posting criticism of Hamas on Facebook, she said.

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Oueis said “most of the Islamists of Gaza are pro‑Hamas,” but insists that “many deeply religious Muslims” are among those calling for change, and that “a lot of the people who are going to protest and taking initiative in spreading the word against Hamas are religious Muslims” who reject Islamist politics. Many, she added, are “frustrated young people” who may have loose affiliations with the opposition Fatah party.

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Some Gazans, she said, even openly argue that “it’s time to stop the wars between Israel and Palestinians, and it’s time to have peace with Israel.” They recall the period before October 7 when tens of thousands of Gazans worked inside Israel for “very good high salaries,” and say they “definitely want these things to go back.”