Gazans, Living With Terrorists

"We suffer with Hamas. [They] are responsible for our suffering. And there will never be a future for us under their control, even if Israel just disappeared, we still suffer under Hamas."

"I was a child when Fatah was the government of Gaza, but I remember what my family used to say about Fatah and the corruption among Fatah members and that's exactly why people elected Hamas in 2006."

"So there was corruption, but the security and safety was way better than when Hamas took control of Gaza."

"It's either you join Hamas to benefit and get a job and get some assistance in your life or you prefer to be an independent guy who struggles almost every day."

"You don't know if you are talking to a Hamas guy or not. You start talking against Hamas and you find  yourself arrested the next day."

"No one in Gaza can speak against Hamas without being arrested and tortured. That's why [surveys] come out of Gaza that shows the entire population are supporters for Haas, which is completely wrong."

"There are a lot of people opposed to Hamas and just want to overthrow them, but they are afraid of the consequences. They might be tortured, they might lose their jobs, many things."

"We protested Hamas in 2019 and we protested them in 2023 just three or four months before the [Oct.7] attacks. Both times I was arrested."

"No day passes without torture at Hamas prisons. The first time I [was] arrested, I remember that I was beaten every single day."

"The first time I was there [in prison] for three weeks. My family tried to visit me more than ten times and every time they said, 'No, he's not here'. But when my family was willing to pay the $3,000 they said, 'Yes, he's here'."

Hamza Howidy, Palestinian Gazan

A PEACE activist holds up a sign near Gaza.

(photo credit: REUTERS)

Having fled Gaza in August of 2023, Hamza Howidy now seeks asylum in Germany. He would prefer to return home to Gaza, but he fears Hamas labelling him a traitor for his criticism and activism. "So as soon as they get me, they will kill me immediately. I left Gaza with an intention to not be silent about what's happening, to speak out, for those who couldn't leave Gaza." Howidy is angry about university students at the protest rallies who he feels, should be placing the focus on Hamas terrorism.

He lived most of his life under Hamas, a child when Hamas was elected in Gaza, killing many of the Fatah party members who then governed Gaza, when a brief civil war erupted in 2007. When he matured to early manhood he attended the Islamic University of Gaza, majoring in accounting. Aware that without joining Hamas or becoming a Hamas supporter, his chances of finding employment were low to nonexistent. He also knew he was being watched by any number of operatives in the network of spies throughout the region who reported back to Hamas.

The first time Howidy was arrested in 2019 for protesting he was held for roughly three weeks before his family paid $3,000 for his release.As it happened, Howidy did not seek membership in any political party in Gaza. He did join the We Want to Live protest movement, a youth organization in Gaza rallying for better living conditions. Where were the student protests throughout the West, he wondered, when Palestinians were pushing back at Hamas.

"Part of us [in We Want to Live] believed in peace and coexistence [with Israel] but it's way too dangerous to call for that. So we choose to call for better living conditions. Which led to his arrests  in 2019 and 2023 for protesting. He wants the world and the student protesters to know that Hamas is at the root of the violence in Gaza. He nurses hope that Hamas can be replaced with a governing party that can create "a new page in our history, one that does not include terror."

"No one spoke [the current mass protests claiming to be 'pro-Palestinian' charging Israel with 'genocide' in Gaza] when Hamas arrested all of us and tortured us -- twice. None of them spoke when Hamas killed 700 Palestinians in 2006 and 2007. So I think they are motivated by their hatred of the Jews or Israel in general."

"Enough. We have lost both Palestinians and Israelis."

Hamza Howidy, Gaza Palestinian

STUDENTS HOLD a protest encampment in support of Palestinians on the Columbia University campus, in New York City, this week. (credit: CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS)