Hamas responded Thursday to growing public protests inside Gaza by insisting the demonstrations are directed against Israel and the ongoing war, rather than against the terror group ruling the Strip.

Thousands of Gazans have taken to the streets this week in rare displays of public anger against Hamas, chanting for the end of the group’s nearly two-decade rule after it plunged the enclave into war by attacking southern Israel on October 7, taking hundreds of hostages, many of whom it is still holding.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told the Qatari channel Al-Araby that “demonstrations are expected from people facing extermination, against war and destruction.”

Despite multiple media reports, images, and videos from protests, as well as media interviews with Gazans to the contrary, Naim claimed the rallies are being misrepresented as criticizing Hamas’s de facto regime.

“People are calling to stop the aggression, but the enemy and other parties with political agendas are diverting the spontaneous protests to serve the occupation’s agenda and trying to portray it as if the demonstrators are against the resistance,” he said — a reference to Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza.

“Those who are trying to portray the protests as demonstrations against Hamas are the same people who have been doing this for years from Arab and European cities to serve (foreign) interests,” he added, without specifying which actors he was referring to.

Naim further claimed that the authoritarian Islamist group allows residents to show dissent.

“We understand well that our people are politically diverse, and we protect both opinions and opposing views,” he said.  “No one has the right to forbid anyone from expressing their opinion. But the people took to the streets calling to stop the war and end the aggression.”

On Wednesday, thousands of people rallied throughout Gaza, chanting “Hamas out.” The protest followed a smaller demonstration a day earlier in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City, which drew wide media attention.

Some protest participants spoke directly to the media Wednesday, criticizing Hamas over the war.

“They made the residents into rabbits, and now they have broken free of the fear because they have nothing to lose,” a Gazan man named Sami Ubayed told Israel’s Ynet news outlet.

“Residents have no water or electricity. Hamas is destroying Gaza and making us into stones, they must be removed from power. We won’t stop demonstrating, Hamas needs to be flexible and release the hostages.”

Demonstrators carrying banners reading, “Hamas does not represent us,” were seen marching in Gaza City and the town of Beit Lahiya in the north of the territory.

In Beit Lahiya, where a similar but far smaller protest took place Tuesday, about 3,000 people demonstrated Wednesday, with many chanting, “The people want the fall of Hamas.” In the hard-hit Shejaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, dozens of men chanted, “Out, out out! Hamas get out!”

In some incidents, protesters at rallies urged Hamas to release hostages it is holding to expedite an end to the war that has devastated most areas of Gaza, making conditions harsh for residents.

War erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led some 5,000 attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. As they rampaged murderously through the region, the terrorists abducted 251 people, also mostly civilians, who were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip.

Israel retaliated with a military campaign to destroy Hamas and save the hostages. A complex, three-phase ceasefire that included the release of hostages in batches began on January 19 but collapsed after its first stage as Israel renewed air strikes amid mutual accusations of violations and as Hamas stopped releasing hostages.

The terror group has violently cracked down on previous protests. This time, no outright intervention was apparent, which some saw as a sign of its waning power in the wake of Israel’s military campaign. The group’s armed personnel are also thought to be keeping a low profile since Israel resumed military action in Gaza earlier this month following the two-month ceasefire.

Protests are relatively rare events in Gaza, especially against Hamas, which has maintained an iron grip on the Strip since it violently ousted the Palestinian Authority from the territory in 2007.

While there have been more public statements by individuals in Gaza against Hamas rule since the war started, large-scale demonstrations against the group have been almost nonexistent.

The last documented protest in the Strip against Hamas took place in January 2024, when Palestinians in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis called for an end to the war, the end of the terror group’s rule over Gaza, and the release of the Israeli hostages.