In the 15 years since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, the two million Palestinian Arabs who live there have had daily reminders that the Iranian-sponsored terror group has failed to create proper living conditions.
According to the Gatestone Institute’s Khaled Abu Toameh, conditions in Gaza have deteriorated to the point that increasingly young people have been committing suicide by jumping off rooftops, taking overdoses of medicine, hanging themselves and by self-immolation.
In the past, Gazans have protested against Hamas to demonstrate their anger at Hamas’s iron-fisted rule which has led to misery in Gaza. But the last protest – in 2017 with the slogan “We Want to Live” – was responded to with brutal violence by Hamas security forces.
Gazans have recently again taken to the streets against Hamas after a surge in violent crime and increasing numbers of suicides, with 49 cases of murder and suicide so far this year reported by NGOs.
Last week, four Gazans reportedly committed suicide by setting themselves on fire.
"In all countries of the world, you pay taxes for the services that the state provides you, except for us," said Khalil Talmas, a resident of the Gaza Strip, according to the report. "In return, there are no hospitals, no education, no electricity, no water, no public utilities, not even rodent control."
Some Palestinian Arabs said that the protests were not only against corrupt Hamas but also against the Palestinian Authority for imposing sanctions against the Gaza Strip in an attempt to weaken Hamas rule. They pointed the finger at both Hamas and Palestinian Authority leaders and their families for corruption, living in luxury while Palestinian Arabs under their rule lived with long-term unemployment and poverty.
Gaza Strip residents were also angry that senior Hamas leaders and their families, such as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who recently relocated from Qatar to Turkey, have left for other Middle East countries for better lives while they are stuck in Gaza as Egypt will not let them through its shared border.