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Under the slogan “We Want to Live,” the protests are the biggest challenge to Hamas’ rule since 2007.

“We’re not political and we don’t want to change political systems. We just want to get our rights,” one of the organizers, Moumen al-Natour, said in a Facebook post, according to BBC.

In a widely circulated video reportedly taken from the centre of one of the Gaza protests, a Palestinian mother can be heard complaining that her children have “lost 12 years of their lives.”

“My sons aren’t working, my husband’s not working, the entire country’s not working!” she said. “A son of a Hamas official is 20 years old and owns an apartment, a car, a jeep, a building … while our sons have nothing at all.”

The protests have been met by swift crackdowns from Hamas officials, with videos posted to social media showing Palestinian security forces using tear gas, beating protesters and raiding homes.

“Civilians affiliated with Hamas crept among the protestors and started attacking them and raising posters of (Palestinian Authority President) Mahmoud Abbas written on them ‘Abbas, Leave’ in attempts to cause confusion,” reads a report by the International Middle East Media Centre.

Abbas, a stated enemy of Hamas, has been blamed by Hamas officials for inciting the protests.

The Palestinian Authority, in turn, has called out the protests as symbols of the failure of Hamas rule.

Photo by File

“Hamas must listen to the voice of the people,” Palestinian Authority justice minister Ali Abu Diak was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post. “It must stop its policy of strangulation, oppression and abuse against our people in the Gaza Strip.”