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The protests breaking out in Gaza should not only hearten Israelis, but anyone who seeks security and peace in the region. They also pose a pointed question: what will those who claimed there are no innocents in Gaza — that everyone is Hamas, that the entire Strip bears responsibility for October 7 — say now, as they rush to share videos of Palestinians demonstrating against Hamas rule?
No doubt, some will jump to explain: this is precisely the result of Israeli military pressure. They’ll argue the demonstrators were once Hamas supporters, now turning away — a sign, they’ll say, that Palestinians have internalized Israel’s superior power. Nothing more, nothing less. Certainly, some of that may be true. But it’s far from the full picture.
Israeli military documents show that Hamas had been falsifying opinion polls in Gaza for many months due to its waning popularity. There was considerable criticism of its rule, during the war and before it. Hamas has brutally suppressed dissent through torture and executions. In previous op-eds, I cited reports from international aid workers in Gaza who said: when Hamas leaders emerge from the tunnels and the war ends, the people will turn on them. The hatred toward them, they said, is immense.
The protests now erupting are not happening in a vacuum. Gazans have recently experienced the relative calm of a long cease-fire. Many have returned to their land after months in makeshift shelters. They have seen the destruction with their own eyes. Many are weary of war, and many never supported Hamas to begin with.
This doesn’t mean some didn’t collaborate — in action or in silence — with the atrocities of October 7. It also doesn’t mean they’ve become pro-Israel, especially amid Gaza’s widespread devastation. But when people have nothing left to lose, they are willing to take to the rubble-strewn streets to denounce an oppressive, murderous, genocidal regime.
We don’t need protests to tell us there are innocent people in Gaza. Every child is innocent by definition. But politically, the protests underline a crucial point: there are human beings on the other side. We’ve heard the voices of community leaders in Beit Lahia pleading for a future for their children, yearning for normalcy and freedom.
Still, after October 7, we must shed illusions. Gaza harbors bloodthirsty fundamentalists who would see everything burn. They are the ones holding our hostages — shackled, deep in the dark tunnels of repression and ignorance. These fanatics remain in power not only due to brute force and Hamas’s organizational grip, but also through the public’s compliance. For all the courage shown in places like Beit Lahia, this is not yet a popular uprising against Hamas — though it may come faster than expected.
Gazans, despite the rumors, will remain Israel’s neighbors. Some speak of total victory, drawing comparisons to Germany and Japan after World War II. In both cases, the United States offered a compelling model for a different life the day after. It invested its own money in defeated countries, despite immense American losses and the horrors committed by those regimes.
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The Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany was unpopular in the U.S. Leaders pursued it anyway, understanding that some things must be done for the sake of regional stability, long-term security, and victory in the Cold War. History should not be mined only for lessons that justify endless war or a Roman-style campaign of revenge.
Hamas rule in Gaza must end. Its leaders must leave. The armed forces built by Hamas and other militant groups must be dismantled — truly dismantled, not in the Hezbollah-style facade. The war can end tomorrow if Hamas agrees to exile its leadership and core militants, as the PLO did in Beirut in 1982, and to return all the hostages in a single deal. That is the goal. That is where the international community must apply pressure.
Even if that day remains distant, Israel must chart a vision for a different reality, for an alternative governance structure, for a future of some kind. Not for the sake of those who dared to march against Hamas, but for our own future here.
Nadav EyalAvigail UziVictory requires the ability to sense its approach, to seize cracks as they emerge and pry them open further. War is not won by bombs alone, but also through political maneuvers. Through brave wisdom, not just boisterous zeal.
If the ball is in our court — and yes, these are only a few protests for now — we must take the shot.
And above all, we must remember: military action may sometimes be necessary, but it is not an end in itself. Those who offer no vision for the day after are offering only endless war. And endless war is, in its own way, a form of defeat.