Are the current protests against economic hardship authentic, or are they part of a scheme by Hamas’s enemies to end the Islamist movement’s rule in the Gaza Strip?

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Hamas leaders say the demonstrations launched last week by Palestinian youth movements began as a genuine protest against the bad economic situation in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas leaders say they first thought the protests would be directed against Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – the two parties Hamas holds responsible for the continued crisis in the coastal enclave.In the past 48 hours, Hamas officials have adopted a different approach. Now they are claiming the protests are being orchestrated by their rivals in Fatah and the “Zionist enemy.”Fatah has been trying to hijack the protests from day one, and use them as a tool to overthrow the Hamas regime, several Hamas representatives said over the weekend. Hamas, they emphasized, will not allow any Palestinian faction, especially Fatah, “to exploit the suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip for political gain.”Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in different parts of the Gaza Strip in the first days of the protests, which are now being held under the banner of “We Want to Live!” The large turnout caught Hamas leaders by surprise, especially after they noticed that protesters were chanting slogans denouncing Hamas and its leaders, and holding them responsible for the high cost of living, new taxes and soaring unemployment in Gaza.Videos of Hamas police officers using live ammunition and batons to disperse the protesters, as well as video footage of several Palestinians accusing Hamas leaders and their family members of financial corruption, prompted the Islamist movement to step up its effort to crush the growing protests.On Saturday, Hamas decided to launch a counter-campaign as part of its attempt to end the demonstrations and discredit the protesters. Hamas dispatched thousands of its supporters to the streets in a number of areas in the Gaza Strip to condemn Abbas and hold him responsible for the crisis because of the sanctions he imposed on the Gaza Strip nearly two years ago.Hamas also took to social media to portray the protests as part of a conspiracy by Fatah and Israel to end the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas-affiliated social media accounts drew the Palestinians’ attention to statements made by Fatah and Israeli officials with regard to the protests. The statements, according to Hamas, prove that Israel and Fatah are in collusion to “destroy the Palestinian resistance” in the Gaza Strip and force the Palestinians to accept US President Donald Trump’s unpublished plan for peace in the Middle East, known as the “deal of the century.”