Palestinians on Wednesday staged protests in the Gaza Strip against the territory's Hamas rulers for the second consecutive day, calling for an end to the war with Israel, witnesses said.
Demonstrators carrying banners reading "Hamas does not represent us" were seen marching in Gaza City and the town of Beit Lahia to the north, just over a week after Israel resumed its bombing campaign following nearly two months of a truce.
"We do not want Hamas! We are tired," said protester Muayed Zahir, who took part in the rally in Gaza City.
After more than 17 months of devastating war, "there is no education, no food, no clothing -- and all this is because of Hamas," Zahir added.
"We appeal to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu: Stop firing missiles at the sad, poor people."
Protesters also chanted, "Out, out, Hamas out!" witnesses said.
One demonstrator who declined to be named said that nearly "two years of destruction and extreme hardship are enough."
"Enough, Hamas, with the suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza... These are the demands of the people," added the man, stressing that "we speak in the name of the people; we are not being controlled by anyone."
On Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinians participated in a protest in Beit Lahia, the biggest rally in Gaza against Hamas since the start of the war.
Hamas has been in power in Gaza since 2007.
Levels of discontent towards Hamas are difficult to gauge, in part because of its intolerance for public expressions of dissent.
A public opinion poll conducted in September by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, based outside of Gaza in the occupied West Bank, estimated that 35 percent of Gazans supported Hamas.
According to the survey, support for Hamas in Gaza was slightly higher than for its main political rival, the Fatah movement of Ramallah-based Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, estimated at 26 percent.
In Israel's parliament on Wednesday, Netanyahu said, "More and more Gazans understand that Hamas brings them destruction and ruin... all of this proves that our policy is working."
Fatah's spokesman in Gaza, Monther al-Hayek, on Saturday called on Hamas to "step aside from governing" the territory to safeguard the "existence" of Palestinians there.
Before Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza, it had blocked in early March the entry of aid into the war-ravaged territory, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.
Israeli officials said the move to block aid was aimed at forcing the militants to release Israeli hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Since Israel resumed its military operations on March 18, at least 830 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory.
Israel's military offensive since October 2023 has killed at least 50,183 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry.
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