A new campaign urging residents of the Gaza Strip to protest against Hamas rule has gained traction in recent days. The initiative, called the “June 26 Revolution,” is calling for demonstrations against the current political, humanitarian, and social conditions in Gaza.

The movement appears to have been organized by Palestinian activists, journalists, and social media figures, many with roots in Gaza. Organizers say the goal is to demand change and encourage residents to speak out.

“The people of Gaza need to rebuild their lives. The suffering has to stop,” Gazan journalist Abed al-Hamid Abed al-Ati, one of the prominent figures pushing the June protests, told The Jerusalem Post.

Ati said the campaign aims to give Gaza residents hope and a chance to pursue a future with dignity, away from constant displacement and hardship.

“We are not asking much; we just want to live like any other human beings,” he said. Ati has previously criticized political conditions and daily life in the Strip.

“I see my role as helping Gaza residents because no one else is stepping in. People have been displaced and left in tents, and they’re just not seeing, at least for now, any real signs on the ground that their lives are about to significantly change and get better soon,” he explained. “We reject the continuation of this war. It needs to end.”

The June 26 Revolution movement has issued several statements calling on Gazans to join protests. One statement said: “The people are the source of authority. They are the ones who have paid the price with their homes, future, sons, and daughters. From this painful reality, the people declare their revolution as a renewed expression of their independent will, rejecting oppression and the continued occupation of the Gaza Strip.

“The people have the right to proclaim their lives and reject surrendering to reality imposed upon them. We refuse to have our dignity violated or to be humiliated by standing in bread lines. We reject reducing our lives to living in a tent and waiting for water.”

The campaign has drawn attention among Palestinians, with some voicing support while indirectly criticizing Hamas’s leadership.

“We are thrown away in the streets. Wake up! For God’s sake, what are you waiting for?” a young Palestinian man said about the movement’s initiative.

Another Palestinian critic of the terror group said that “Hamas is finished” and called on Gaza residents to participate in the planned protests.

“Don’t be afraid. Demonstrate for the sake of your children and the dignity that was taken away from you. Free yourselves from slavery and injustice.”

Another statement from the campaign stated: “Our revolution does not await promises from anyone. The people are the ones required to act. We affirm our commitment to the peaceful nature of our revolution, and we call on local, international, legal, and media institutions to provide support and protect the protesters on June 26.”

The push for demonstrations has also sparked backlash, with some accusing campaign supporters of “betrayal and collusion with the Zionist entity” because of their criticism of the “resistance.”

Ati said he faced attacks from Hamas supporters, who accused him and his associates of being “traitors and collaborators with Israel” seeking to “fuel anarchy.”

He initially announced that he was withdrawing from the campaign after Palestinian sources said his family received death threats over his involvement. Shortly afterward, he reversed course, saying he returned because of public support for the initiative.

“We continue for the sake of our people’s dreams. Intimidation is not going to bring results,” he said.

“I don’t have any agenda but to serve my people,” he stressed.

Ati, who now lives in Cairo with his three daughters, left Gaza after the war began following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. He said several members of his family were killed in bombardments in northern Gaza and described fleeing with his daughters after being displaced multiple times.

“I lost a lot, like many others in Gaza,” he told the Post. “It’s now clear to me that if this unbearable situation continues, there will be no stability and relief, and we cannot afford for that to happen. We deserve a decent life and freedom,” he added, claiming that many residents in Gaza do not support Hamas.

“I hear from people that they want the Hamas regime to go and that it’s time to turn a new page,” he said.

Referring to Hamas, Ati said, “those responsible for bringing war and destruction upon us do not deserve to continue leading and should relinquish power.”

“An entire people has been punished because of the reckless gamble of one organization [Hamas].”

Previous protests in Gaza against the war and deteriorating conditions have been limited. In March 2025, demonstrations in Beit Lahia included calls for Hamas to step down, but were quickly suppressed by Hamas operatives, similar to the crackdown during the 2019 “We Want to Live” protests.

“People are exhausted,” Ati noted. “They are dying and have nothing left to lose.”

“How can someone continue living like this? No health systems, no education, more than 70,000 killed, many others wounded, and so much devastation. We are human beings, not numbers,” he said.