A growing campaign of Palestinian activists and social media influencers is calling on residents of the Gaza Strip to take to the streets later this month in mass demonstrations against Hamas rule, setting June 26 as the target date for protests across the enclave.

The movement, operating under the banner of the “June 26 Revolution,” is seeking to challenge Hamas’s continued control over the territory and the political, social, and humanitarian conditions that have defined daily life in Gaza throughout the war.

Organizers adopted the slogan “For a better life and a promising future… the people’s right to decide their fate,” framing the effort as a repeat of earlier protest movements that were suppressed in prior years.

The initiative appears to have been organized primarily by Palestinian activists, exiled social media influencers, and journalists, most of them originally from Gaza.

Gazan journalist Abed al-Hamid Abed al-Ati, one of the campaign’s most prominent voices, told The Jerusalem Post the goal is straightforward. “The people of Gaza need to rebuild their lives. The suffering has to stop,” he said. “We are not asking much; we just want to live like any other human beings.”

Al-Ati said he sees his role as stepping in where others have not. “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 said. “We reject the continuation of this war. It needs to end.”

The movement released a statement asserting that ordinary Gazans, not factions or governments, hold sovereign authority over their own fate. “The people are the source of authority. They are the ones who have paid the price with their homes, future, sons, and daughters,” the statement read. “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.”

A second statement pledged that the movement would remain peaceful. “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,” it read.

The campaign has drawn expressions of support from ordinary Gazans, some speaking openly against Hamas for the first time. “We are thrown away in the streets. Wake up! For God’s sake, what are you waiting for?” one young Palestinian man said. Another declared that “Hamas is finished” and urged residents to join the June 26 demonstrations. “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.”

The movement is not without risk. Hamas affiliates have labeled al-Ati and his colleagues “traitors and collaborators with Israel” who seek to “fuel anarchy.” The campaign has also faced accusations from some quarters of “betrayal and collusion” for criticizing the armed resistance.

Al-Ati himself briefly announced his withdrawal from the effort after death threats were directed at his family. He reversed course shortly after, saying the response from ordinary Gazans made him reconsider. “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.”

Al-Ati now lives in Cairo with his three young daughters, having left Gaza shortly after the war began.

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