“I prefer to die rather than to live a life like this”
October 31, 2007 7:20 am Gaza under Hamas
Saladin Sultan and one of his five children stand in the bare family living room in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip. Dion Nissenbaum/MCT.
Dion Nissenbaum, Conditions worsen in Gaza as Israel tightens grip, McClatchy Washington Bureau | 10/29/2007 |
“The situation is so bad that you really prefer to die,” Sultan said. “I prefer to die rather than to live a life like this.”
In the four months since Hamas seized effective control of the Gaza Strip in a brutal military takeover, Israel has cut off the desolate region from the outside world and created a political crisis for the Islamist militant group now leading the government here.
Popular support for Hamas appears to be dwindling as frustration builds.
While Hamas managed to restore a semblance of safety to the Gaza Strip, it has failed to do much more. The Hamas-led government enjoys virtually no international recognition. Israel and the United States have rushed to shore up Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has championed the international campaign to marginalize Hamas.
Now Hamas is confronting intense internal fissures.
Ghazi Hamad, one of the best-known Hamas pragmatists in the Gaza Strip, has been effectively sidelined after criticizing the militant group for leading the Palestinians into an international political ambush.