Gaza, Palestine — Amid Israeli war crimes and acts of collective punishment against the civilian population in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians amassed in multiple gatherings in late March to protest the war, Israeli occupation and the rule of Hamas.

Grassroots-led protests sprung up in Beit Lahia on March 26 and in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood on March 28, nearly 18 months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza which has left over 61,700 Palestinians dead. Unicorn Riot heard from many participants as to why they were protesting.

Thousands of people spontaneously showed up to protests in Beit Lahia on March 26, a day after Israel violently evacuated sections of the city in response to rockets being launched towards Israel by militants from Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the second largest armed group in Gaza after Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

This new wave of fighting started when Israel broke the latest ceasefire, and continued their bombardment of the Strip. Israel launched a new military offensive on March 18 which has killed nearly 2,000 Palestinians over the last five weeks, the majority of them women and children, after having already closed the borders to Gaza on March 2, preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid.

“These marches are happening to say that we are against the escalation,” yelled Abdul Ahmed while holding a Palestinian flag up. Ahmed said he wants a ceasefire and the ability “to live a good life in Gaza.” “Enough of what’s happening to us” he said, “enough of the destruction that has happened to us, every day we lose children, elderly and women!”

Those who spoke to the press desperately called out for an end to the violence. Many spoke about a “bitterness” that was felt over losing everything from the widespread destruction of Israeli bombardment — over 70% of the buildings have been destroyed or damaged.

“We want to stop the war,” said Mu’ayyad Dhahir, “it’s a duty of free good people to stop this war.” Standing in a crowd of protesters in Beit Lahia, “that’s why we came out,” he said, “starving the people, destroying the people and killing children must end. Nothing else can be done but for the people to stand up again. End the war itself.”

In Gaza City two days later, Ali Zahir said he felt the biggest defeat and pain from looking into his family members’ eyes and seeing them scared from the constant Israeli bombardment. He laid blame on what he called the “failed government,” referring to Hamas, who has governed the Gaza Strip since winning elections in 2006.

“When I look at my father’s eyes and see him afraid,” Zahir said, “that’s the biggest defeat in life. And when I look in my mother’s eyes and my little sisters’ eyes and see them scared — that’s the biggest pain. I swear by God I’m crushed. I’m crushed by this failed government.”

“We are thrown in the streets. No food, no drink, no clothes, no shelter, no one has anything, nothing. You’re deprived of even the basic necessities of life — clean water, electricity, decent food, everything. The streets are full of garbage and sewage. We are dying slowly of hunger and diseases.”

Ayad Jundia, displaced Palestinian in Gaza

“We’re dying slowly. Have mercy on us and leave us alone. Hand over the rule to anyone, it doesn’t matter who,” said Ayad Jundia, a displaced Palestinian in Beit Lahia protesting in late March. “We are not surviving,” he said, “This is beyond humiliation, disgrace, death, hunger, oppression, misery, and despair. There’s nothing left.”

Displaced from Beit Lahia, Abu Naim Hamouda, said that “Hamas gave the Zionists this golden opportunity to roam freely and kill — no trees, no stones, no humans spared.” He said he’s lost three houses and his almond business which was on 80 dunums of land (approximately 20 acres).

Hamouda was among others who called on Hamas to hand over power to the Egyptian state. As Hamouda put it, Egypt knows “the Jewish deceptions. Hamas leaders don’t know politics,” he said.

After the newest Israeli offensive started in March 2025, Hamouda said that Israeli Generals plan to take over Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and the north of Gaza, “this time if we leave, we’re not coming back,” he said.

“Much has been hidden. So much … This time if we leave, we’re not coming back. I’m telling you — the Israeli Generals who displaced us want to take Beit Lahia and the north. There’s a plan — they want to take it over.”

Abu Naim Hamouda, Displaced Palestinian in Gaza

A week after Hamouda spoke, Israeli ground forces continued working their way south and invaded Gaza City again starting on April 3, 2025. Palestinians being forcibly displaced from the Shujaiya neighborhood were forced to leave, some with possessions and some without.

Walking with her children, Umm Mahmoud Al-Gharbawi told Unicorn Riot “we are exhausted and tired” from continuously being displaced. Taher Aouni said his “children are scattered everywhere” and life was extremely hard.

Israel is currently in its eighth-week of blockading all crossings into Gaza, preventing the entry of food, medicine, and aid to nearly 2 million Palestinians.

On April 19, two displaced Palestinian women in a Gaza City camp spoke with Unicorn Riot during a day of food distribution by a charity kitchen. If they didn’t have charity, Rasha Ahmed said, “most families go to bed with their children hungry. There is no bread and no flour either.”

Welcoming us inside her tent with her handful of children and family members, Tahani al-Maghari said the “situation is very difficult. There is nothing because the crossings are closed. There are no vegetables, no cooked food or anything.”

“I hope that the crossing will be opened and that they will feel for the poor people. People are dying slowly and no one feels for us.”

Tahani al-Maghari, displaced Palestinian in Gaza

The World Food Programme announced on Friday, April 25, that it had run out of food in the Gaza Strip. Food has been continuously used as a weapon of war by Israel — one of the many war crimes committed by Israel and backed by the United States.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza started in October 2023 after Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,139 people and taking 251 captives back into Gaza. Over the past 18 months, Israel has killed over 61,700 people in Gaza and committed acts of collective punishment, war crimes, and acts of genocide against the Palestinian people.

Back in February 2024, “centrist” Israeli politician Yair Lapid proposed the idea of the Gaza Strip being returned to Egyptian control in exchange for Israel forgiving $150 billion worth of debt it owes Israel. This proposal has thus far been rejected by both Israel and Egypt, as the latter has reiterated its commitment to Gaza as an fully independent Palestinian administered territory. The Israeli government apparently has different plans, as it recently backed Trump’s internationally condemned proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its Palestinian population and for the U.S. to take over and rebuild the Gaza Strip as a cosmopolitan tourist paradise.

There are growing voices within Netanyahu’s extreme right coalition demanding that the prime minister “finish the job” by completing Israel’s seizure of the entirety of the Gaza Strip. On April 17, Israel’s defense minister confirmed that the IDF plans to remain in certain so-called “security zones” within Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian territory indefinitely.

As Israel’s total blockade and deadly bombardment of Gaza continues unabated, some Western media have focused on the anti-war protests as strictly anti-Hamas, while other media has framed the protests as gatherings organized by Fatah, Hamas’ political opponent in the Gaza Strip. Protests have erupted again in late April and there are reports of Hamas threatening participants in demonstrations and forcibly dispersing protesters.

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