More than 20 masked Hamas gunmen took turns brutally beating and torturing Abu Hammam Jundiyya. They broke his jaw and legs and beat him so badly. His crime? Speaking out against merchants who have been taking advantage of the war and the suffering of people in Gaza to line their own pockets. Hamas collects huge sums of money from merchants in exchange for turning a blind eye to their abuses and exploitation of ordinary people in Gaza. They pay Hamas, and Hamas lets them get away with it. That's how things work in Gaza now. There are leaked audio recordings in which the merchants themselves admit to these arrangements. Also, Abu Hammam has been a vocal critic of Hamas and strongly condemned October 7, which he believes brought catastrophe upon Gaza. He has also publicly stated on several occasions that he received death threats from both Hamas security and the Al-Qassam Brigades because of his writings. Abu Hammam was released two days ago, but only after being forced to sign a pledge promising not to write about Hamas or the merchants exploiting the suffering of Gazans again.

Three full years have passed since the day our lives were turned upside down. Hamas planned the October 7 attack, and then left us to our fate. I remember that we ran out of food and water only a week after October 7. There were no emergency protocols in place to protect us, even though Hamas was the governing authority in Gaza and had a responsibility toward the civilians living under its rule. At the time, I was nursing my two-month-old baby. Within a week, we were running short of formula. I was one of the lucky mothers because I was able to switch completely to breastfeeding. Other mothers and their babies were not as lucky. This is just one small example of how we were left alone, without protection or support. Twenty days after October 7, Mousa Abu Marzouq, a senior Hamas leader, was asked in an interview with Russia Today: “If Hamas built 500 kilometers of tunnels, why didn’t it build shelters for civilians to use during airstrikes?” His answer was blunt: “We built the tunnels because we have nothing to defend ourselves with against killings and targeting. These tunnels are to protect ourselves from the planes. We are fighters from the tunnels. As for Gaza, you and everyone else know that 75% of the population are refugees. And refugees are the responsibility of the United Nations to protect. The occupation is responsible for providing them with all services according to the Geneva Convention.” In that moment, Abu Marzouq attempted to strip Hamas of any responsibility for the civilians living under its rule. Instead, he placed the burden entirely on international actors and the Israeli occupation, arguing that because 75% of Gaza’s population are refugees, it is the United Nations’ responsibility to protect them. What about the other 25%? What about the people who are not refugees? What struck me most about Abu Marzouq’s words was the division they revealed. There is a clear binary: “we,” the fighters, and “they,” the refugees\civilians. The people are no longer part of the movement. They are not even part of the conversation. They are treated as an external burden, left to beg the international community for aid and protection.