FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 23, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s now been four days since Hamas rejected Israel’s offer for a week-long truce in Gaza in exchange for the release of 40 hostages – a group that includes women, children, and those in need of urgent medical care, including the elderly. The resulting temporary ceasefire would have allowed for increased humanitarian aid, including food, into Gaza.
Criticism of Hamas is spreading among Gazans, a growing number of whom understand that the terror group is responsible for the violence in the region since October 7th:
“Damn Hamas,” said a hairdresser originally from Gaza City who is now sheltering in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. “May God be my witness: If I see Ismail Haniyeh, I will hit him with my slippers,” she said, referring to Hamas’s political leader. Throwing slippers or shoes at somebody is considered highly insulting in the Arab world.[…]“What did the resistance do for us?”
In fact, a recent survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that one in five Gazans now blame Hamas for their suffering in the war.
###