From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Gazans Are Starting to Blame Hamas for Wartime Suffering   
   By Stancati and Ayyoub, Dec. 21, 2023, WSJ   
   Hamas’s popularity among Gazans got a boost in the immediate aftermath of   
   the Oct. 7 incursions into Israeli territory, with many Palestinians seeing   
   the attacks as a response to what they decry as mistreatment by Israel. The   
   survey also found that    
   most respondents were unaware of the scale of the killings and other violence   
   committed by Hamas militants during the attacks.   
      
   The Hamas-led assault, which included terrorist attacks on a music festival   
   and agricultural communities, left some 1,200 people dead—most of them   
   civilians, according to Israeli authorities.   
      
   During the hourslong attacks, parts of which were captured on camera,   
   militants pursued and killed fleeing civilians, including children, with guns   
   and grenades. Some victims were mutilated, including some who were   
   decapitated, and there is mounting    
   evidence of sexual violence, based on survivor accounts, first responders and   
   witnesses. Around 240 people were kidnapped and brought to Gaza.   
      
   “On the first day, people were happy. But as Israel started pounding Gaza,   
   destroying infrastructure and killing civilians, things started to change,”   
   said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University.   
   “There is a lot of    
   criticism among Palestinians that the Oct. 7 attack—the killing of Israeli   
   civilians, women and children—was a strategic mistake that provoked Israel   
   into the current war.”   
      
   “Damn Hamas,” said a hairdresser originally from Gaza City who is now   
   sheltering in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. “May God be my witness: If I   
   see Ismail Haniyeh, I will hit him with my slippers,” she said, referring to   
   Hamas’s political    
   leader. Throwing slippers or shoes at somebody is considered highly insulting   
   in the Arab world.   
      
   The woman is one of about 1.9 million people, around 85% of the Gaza Strip’s   
   population, who fled their homes because of the war and are now internally   
   displaced. Like many Gazans, she said she worries she may never be able to   
   return home.     
      
   “Next week, we may end up in Sinai,” the desert region across the Egyptian   
   border, she said. “What for? What did the resistance do for us?”   
      
   Across Gaza, residents are struggling to find food and clean water. The   
   enclave’s disintegrating healthcare system is incapable of coping with the   
   flow of sick and injured people.    
      
   Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, came to power in Gaza through   
   elections held in 2006. It has since imposed authoritarian rule over the   
   territory, clashing with the more moderate Fatah party—which runs the   
   Palestinian Authority that    
   controls parts of the West Bank—and losing much of its popularity. Hamas   
   generally cracks down on public dissent in peacetime and is unlikely to be   
   influenced by public opinion in wartime.   
      
   In private, locals say, the group is often harshly criticized. And now, some   
   public signs of discontent are beginning to appear.   
      
   The spokesman for Hamas’s Interior Ministry was speaking on live TV in Gaza   
   City last month when a passerby walked into the frame. “I complain about you   
   to God, Hamas,” he said, waving his bandaged hand in the air.   
      
   The clip was widely shared by Gazans on social media, prompting Hamas   
   authorities to issue a public statement: “We warn against publishing any   
   pictures, videos or materials that are offensive to the image of the   
   steadfastness and unity of our people in    
   Gaza.”   
      
   Despite the rising discontent with Hamas, residents of Gaza are unlikely to   
   openly challenge the group while the war is continuing.   
      
   “I hate Hamas, the government. I never respected them. But the militants? I   
   believe in them so much, they are sacrificing their souls for the sake of   
   Palestine,” said a 36-year-old banker from Gaza City.    
      
   Yet she does hold one thing against the militants: their failure to prepare   
   for the consequences of the war, such as food and medical supplies running   
   out.     
      
   “If they prepared for the attack for two years, why didn’t they also make   
   plans for the two million Palestinians they put under fire without asking   
   their opinion?” she added.    
      
   Such simmering opposition raises questions about the group’s long-term hold   
   over the strip.   
      
   Hamas is “in a war, they are fighting back and defending themselves,” said   
   Abusada, the political scientist, who left Gaza for Cairo last month. “But   
   once the war is over, you will hear more and more criticism against Hamas.”   
      
   https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gazans-are-starting-to-bla   
   e-hamas-for-wartime-suffering-066256b0   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)