Gaza Protests: Public Demand for Change Amid Power Crisis and Economic Hardship

Thousands of people in Gaza took to the streets in rare public protests against the Hamas government, expressing their discontent with chronic power outages and difficult living conditions. The demonstrations, organized by a grassroots online movement called "alvirus alsakher," were quickly dispersed by Hamas security forces, who destroyed cellphones and made several arrests. Protesters criticized Hamas for deducting a fee from monthly stipends given to Gaza's poorest families by Qatar. The closure of Gaza by Israel and Egypt has devastated the territory's economy and led to high unemployment and frequent power outages.