Israel is reviled, but Hamas also is loathed
JVL Introduction
A warning. This account of life in Gaza today is almost unbearable to read.
Israeli born journalist Amira Hass has reported from the occupied Palestinian territories for over three decades now, since 1991. She lived in Gaza for four years in the nineties, and since then in Ramallah.
She has never held back from reporting what she has witnessed, from telling truth to power, even if that power is Palestinian.
Her account of what is happening on the ground in Gaza is searing, of the lived realities after three years of relentless military assault, starvation and genocide.
Drawing extensively on the writings of Gazans themselves on social media, the picture Hass paints is almost relentlessly bleak.
People recognise that Israel chose to destroy Gaza and its population, but also do not forgive Hamas for having brought it on.
When Khalil al-Hayya, now chairman of Hamas’ political bureau, was recently asked to name a single achievement of October 7, he said it was too early to tell. Many Gazans have nothing but contempt for that response as they struggle desperately to survive the bare life they are left with in their tented encampments.
Some of the details of their lives are described below by a Palestinian named Hassan. “And,” she adds, “amid all these details,” she adds, “two million lives of unrelenting pain.”
This article was originally published by Haaretz on Tue 13 Oct 2026. Read the original here.
'We Will Not Forgive': Gazans Rage at Hamas for the October 7 Gamble
They loathe Israel for destroying Gaza. They also blame Hamas for gambling with their lives and promising victory. In searing Facebook posts, Gazans describe the loss, abuse and daily humiliations no camera can capture
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What right has any Jewish Israeli, sitting in their air-conditioned property in Tel Aviv or occupied Jerusalem, to pass judgement on Hamas , and base their narrative on selected texts and posts lifted from social media? Would they have the Palestian`s remain quiet and accept the total siege of Gaza by the Western-backed and armed Zionist occupiers? October 7th has exposed completely, “Western” hypocracy, complete contempt for International Law and the embedement of Zionism in governments world-wide. Three years on. Would the occupied residents of the Gaza strip be better off, obeying their supremacist masters, whilst allowing them to occasionally “mow the lawn”? Israel as a Jewish-only state has no right to occupy Palestine. Even the United Nations Charter gives basic rights to resist occupation. If necessary by armed force. Israel isnt “reviled”. Zionism is. Without the occupation, there would be no Hamas.