A young Gazan man at the forefront of an emerging anti-Hamas movement in the Strip is urging American college students behind the anti-Israel protests to direct their efforts to the true enemy at hand: Hamas. 

“Every single result of October 7 was very destructive for the Palestinian cause,” the 25-year-old tells The New York Sun. “October 7 wasn’t smart and it wasn’t humane. We should not affiliate ourselves with events like these.” 

The man, whose name The New York Sun is withholding for his safety, was born in Gaza City and studied at the Islamic University of Gaza. He is one of the Gazans who, at risk of torture and execution, is trying to “open the eyes of the public” to Hamas’s tyranny and oppression. That includes American college students. 

In a stunning admonition to the campus anti-Israel movement, the man calls on the student activists who purport to fight on his very behalf to “wake up” and realize — “you are doing the wrong thing.” He says to students shouting Hamas slogans: “You are harming yourself and your reputation. And you are harming us because you are supporting the wrong people.”

Unlike on college campuses, where Hamas and Hezbollah flags are proudly flown by student activists, anti-Hamas sentiment in Gaza is growing like wildfire — with protesters taking to the streets of Gaza to air their grievances with the terrorist group in what became the largest demonstration since the start of the war. 

The recent frustration with Hamas has grown amid the collapse of the ceasefire agreement with Israel and the increasingly dire circumsrances in Gaza. 

The protests began this Tuesday with hundreds of Palestinians gathering in at least three locations in Gaza to denounce Hamas’s rule. Video footage showed some 100 Palestinians in the Northern Gaza city of Bein Lahia carrying signs with slogans like “Stop war” and “Children in Palestine want to live.” A demonstration soon popped up in front of the city’s hospital. Another emerged in the major Southern city of Khan Younis. 

The rebellious displays continued through Wednesday, with dozens of residents in Shejaiya, a neighborhood east of Gaza city’s center, burning tires and calling for Hamas to be rooted out. The eruption of protests is a testament to the reality that “not all Gazans are Hamas,” the young man tells the Sun. 

Such demonstrations are few and far between in Gaza, where criticizing Hamas can be a death sentence. The Gazan man recalls a member of his community who was “tortured to death” by Hamas for speaking out against the regime. That incident occurred before the war. Since then, he says, many more have been arrested or killed. 

“They crack down on protesters, activists, on anyone who speaks up against them,” he tells the Sun. Hamas has been the de facto governing body of the strip since 2007, when it ousted the Palestinian Authority during a brief civil war. 

Despite the risks, though, the man feels that he has a responsibility to speak out against Hamas’s dictatorship and to prove to the world that there are many other Gazans who, like him, reject Hamas and denounce the deadly October 7 attack on Israel. 

He further points to the fact that Hamas, since the start of the war, has been stealing and stockpiling the humanitarian aid designated for civilians. “They know the routes of where the trucks of aid come from,” he tells the Sun. “They can even come into our houses and take our things and no one will be able to say anything to them.” 

In an ideal scenario, the man hopes that Hamas will be removed from power and that a “group of independent technocrats should be in charge of Gaza in collaboration with the PA.” In the meantime, though, the young Gazan is pitching his support behind President Trump’s proposal to open the borders and let residents evacuate the desolate strip while it gets rebuilt. 

That’s an effort that pro-Palestinian activists on college campuses should get behind, he says. He urges them to pressure the American government to implement Mr. Trump’s Gaza plan and open the Strip’s borders. He describes the 47th president as a “man of peace.” 

The Gazan predicts that “the first moment that the border with Egypt opens up, thousands will leave Gaza,” he tells the Sun. The young man has already been preparing to leave his home country, having recently secured a passport. To receive the essential travel document, however, the man had to offer a bribe to the PA, he tells the Sun. 

“The Palestinian authority is making it very hard for Gazans to acquire passports because they want to put obstacles in front of Trump’s plan to prevent it from happening,” he says. The majority of people he knows in Gaza want to leave. 

The young man is hoping to go to Cairo and become a lawyer. The possibility of returning to Gaza to have a hand in its rebuilding “would be a dream,” he says.