On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” CNN International Correspondent Jeremy Diamond stated that the anti-Hamas protests in Gaza “represent a relatively small share of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million. But it is still a remarkable stand against a group that has not hesitated to violently quash dissent.” And the protests also have a message for Israel.
Diamond said, “After 17 months of war, public exhaustion and rising anger at the Islamist militant group has spilled out into the open, marking the war’s largest anti-Hamas demonstrations. … Over two consecutive days, a few thousand Palestinians poured into the streets of Beit Lahiya. The protests represent a relatively small share of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million. But it is still a remarkable stand against a group that has not hesitated to violently quash dissent.”
He added, “Small protests also broke out in other parts of the Gaza Strip, including in the central city of Deir al-Balah. … Israel seizing on the protests, calling on more Gazans to rise up, but there is also a message here for Israel.” He then quoted a demonstrator saying that “Not all the people in Gaza are Hamas, nor are they terrorists to be treated so severely.”
Diamond further stated that “anger at Hamas has largely stayed below the surface, revealing itself only in the cries of those cursing Hamas after their loved ones were killed, and so it is no surprise that northern Gaza is where the anger boiled over, no part of the Strip has been more devastated.”
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