[News] Weaponizing Despair: 'Israel' Attempts to Turn Gaza Against the Resistance

[Anti-Imperialist News]

orinocotribune.com
<https://orinocotribune.com/weaponizing-despair-israel-attempts-to-turn-gaza-against-the-resistance/>
Weaponizing Despair: 'Israel' Attempts to Turn Gaza Against the Resistance
Yousef Fares
March 28, 2025
------------------------------

[image: Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip to escape
'Israeli' airstrikes, March 25, 2025. Photo: AFP.]

Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip to escape 'Israeli'
airstrikes, March 25, 2025. Photo: AFP.

The occupation quickly portrayed the demonstrations in Beit Lahia, northern
Gaza Strip, over the past two days as targeting the Hamas movement. In
reality, these protests neither oppose Hamas nor represent a setback for
the movement, which focuses solely on liberation. This situation reflects
varying levels of endurance typical in all liberation wars, especially with
such a heavy toll. Gaza faces unprecedented devastation under an occupation
wielding the world’s most lethal weapons, committing atrocious crimes
without hesitation, and receiving open support from dominant powers,
especially the United States.

Thousands of Gazans demonstrated in Beit Lahia, demanding an end to the war
and the elimination of what they termed “pretexts that prolong the
conflict.” Both youth and elderly protesters carried handwritten banners
declaring: “We refuse to die,” “Our children’s blood is not cheap,” and
“Stop the war… enough is enough.” This scene unfolded in a city where the
occupation army has destroyed 90% of homes and recently ordered residents
to evacuate from their tent encampments. The occupation forces and allied
Arab media eagerly exploited these images, broadcasting repeated mobile
phone footage of a few frustrated citizens calling for “Hamas” to withdraw
“to preserve what remains and spare innocent blood.”

While these voices do not represent the majority sentiment, they remain
part of Gaza’s social fabric—a diverse community with varying capacities to
endure hardship. The population has endured extreme pressure recently while
facing continuous displacement, siege, and starvation that deny any chance
for stability. The renewed fighting has inflicted psychological and moral
trauma on many Gazans who believed that they had survived the worst
genocide of the twenty-first century.

Under such circumstances, Gazans deserve understanding when expressing
their anguish in whatever words they choose. Since the war began, the
occupation army has consistently tried to exploit this suffering, supported
by a coordinated media apparatus that reinforces the narrative justifying
mass killings, unjust siege, and forced displacement. The campaign to blame
Hamas and the resistance for Gaza’s destruction extends beyond traditional
media, Israeli commentators, and political statements. Arabic-speaking
enemy soldiers deliberately taunt residents during displacement operations
with phrases like: “This is what Sinwar wants,” “Sorry for what happened to
you, but Sinwar is happy,” and “Hamas has devastated Gaza.” Occupation
forces also systematically vandalize homes they enter by writing anti-Hamas
and anti-resistance slogans on walls.

The occupation employs more than just media pressure and psychological
warfare. The occupation authorities actively block Hamas and resistance
factions from taking steps to alleviate civilian suffering in the aftermath
of war. They prevent the entry of essential humanitarian aid agreed upon in
the ceasefire protocols, including mobile homes, tents, and electrical
generators. The financial blockade further cripples the resistance groups’
ability to mount an emergency response matching the scale of the
catastrophe. The occupation entity treats these developments as a strategic
victory. Netanyahu gleefully highlighted the demonstrations, while his War
Minister Yisrael Katz urged all Gazans to follow Beit Lahia’s example.

But does reality match this portrayal? Gazans universally reject being
characterized as implementing the occupation’s agenda or serving as its
ground-level pawns. The Beit Lahia protesters’ hearts are scarred by war.
Among them stands a man from the Barawi family, who lost 100 relatives to
the occupation’s massacres. He declared, “We do not belong to any faction,
and we are not against the resistance. Previously, if one of us died a
natural death, we would mourn for months. Today, we ask everyone to make
concessions to stop the war, even if it means some must leave the scene.”
Abu Muhammad Al-Masri, interviewed by Al-Akhbar, clarified, “We have a long
vendetta with the occupation, and no one should think we are turning
against anyone—our vendetta is with the occupation only. But we need a
little life, a little calm, to tend to our wounds. Is that too much to ask?”

(Al-Akhbar
<https://www.al-akhbar.com/arab/828195/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%AB%D9%85%D8%B1-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%87%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B2%D9%8A--%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89--%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3>)
by Yousef Fares

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/DZ/SC


Yousef Fares

Yousef Fares is a Palestinian reporter in Gaza. He is an author at
Al-Akhbar News and he regularly posts updates on his telegram channel.
<https://t.me/youseffares19>
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