Why have Gazans come out publicly now?

This week’s public demonstrations in the north and south of Gaza caught many by surprise. After all, the Palestinians of Gaza have become an icon of resistance and sacrifice over 16 months of heavy-handed, brutal and largely indiscriminate Israeli attacks that spared no civilians, journalists, kitchen staff or even medical workers.

Credit must be given to this heroic population, but one must never forget that they are human beings and not superhumans. They ache when they are hurt, mourn when loved ones die and become angry when they are faced with continuous injustice to which the world is apathetic.

It took way too long for a ceasefire agreement to be signed and to come into force. Finally, in January, Gazans who had been forcibly relocated to tents in the south were able to return north. Many found their homes partially or fully demolished. They began, as much as they could, to clean up and fix their homes while waiting for the promised heavy equipment to arrive so that the heavy rubble could be removed and some of the still-buried bodies taken out and given a proper burial.

Attempts to claim the protests were not genuine were quickly debunked by the communal leaders in Beit Lahia

Daoud Kuttab

But just as they began restoring some form of life, the ceasefire abruptly and unexpectedly ended with a huge airstrike that killed 400 Palestinians, most of them children and women. Israel claimed that the goal of this strike was to assassinate “mid-level” Hamas leaders.

Still, many waited in the hope that the US sponsors of the ceasefire — which the newly elected president claimed credit for — would act against such a clear violation by Israel. The unilateral violation of the ceasefire and relaunch of the war was not lost on many Israelis, including the families of the hostages, who felt that this was a stab in the back of their loved ones. The attack was followed by the war crime of a blockade of food and humanitarian aid. Even the symbolic Jordanian airdrops also failed.

Hamas leaders did apparently try to make a small compromise by agreeing to release five Americans, including one who had not been killed by Israeli airstrikes. But that seemed to further anger the Israelis, who felt that the Americans might abandon them if they got their dual US-Israeli citizens back.

American negotiators failed to even admit that their beloved Israeli ally was the party that broke the ceasefire deal, instead blaming Hamas for refusing a suggestion by US mediator Steve Witkoff for the release of five live hostages, including the American. Speaking to the media, Witkoff put all the blame on Hamas and fully supported the Israeli brutality.

Hamas fighters symbolically responded to the continued Israeli ceasefire violations by firing a rocket from the north of Gaza. The Israelis responded in a harsh way, ordering the people of Beit Lahia to leave their homes yet again.

This produced an angry response, both against the Israelis, whose brutality and inhuman collective punishment was being ignored by the world, but also against the Hamas leaders for not realizing that they need to partially bend when a storm of this magnitude is hitting the region.

Hamas must understand that it needs to weigh up its decisions and be cognizant of the current balance of power

Daoud Kuttab

Attempts to claim the protests were not genuine or that they were brokered by Mohammed Dahlan’s team or by the Ramallah leadership were quickly debunked by the communal leaders in Beit Lahia, who insisted that the protests against both Israel and Hamas were genuine.

While the protests, including those critical of Hamas, were indeed genuine, it is important that the Israelis and the world do not take this as a sign that the Palestinian resistance is weakening or that everyone has become anti-Hamas.

Naturally, the Hamas leadership must understand that it needs to weigh up its decisions and be cognizant of the current balance of power after the most recent changes in Washington, Beirut and other regional and world capitals.

The ceasefire must be immediately and properly reinstated, bringing an end to the war, along with the release of prisoners and restoration of food supplies, followed by a robust move for reconstruction and a political peace process.

Many around the world continue to demand an end of the Israeli war crimes. Arab countries need to do more and the world community needs to insist on the application of the laws of war, which at their minimum require avoiding attacks on civilians and the refusal of collective starvation policies. Will anyone listen to the cries coming out of Gaza and remember that Palestinians in Gaza are human beings with human traits, pains, feelings and hopes? The end of this war must not be delayed any longer.

• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of Palestine NOW: Practical and logical arguments for the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.” X: @daoudkuttab