From 25 March 2025, protests had taken place across the Gaza Strip against Hamas, which has held exclusive control over the territory since 2007. Demonstrators called on Hamas to give up its rule and bring an end to the war with Israel. Many of the protests against Hamas were part of wider protests against the Gaza war. The protests appeared to have been sparked by widespread local war exhaustion and dissatisfaction with the leadership style and tactics of Hamas following Israel's resumption of the Gaza war earlier in March. Several days after the protests began, the Israeli media outlet Ynet reported that Hamas executed six Gazans and publicly flogged or kidnapped others who had taken part in the demonstrations; some of them remain missing.
These had marked the biggest protests against Hamas to take place in Gaza since the October 7 attacks. Anti-Hamas protests in the territory had previously taken place in summer 2023, 2019, and from 2011 to 2012.