Gazan anti-Hamas activist beaten by masked men is said to be in critical condition

Ameen Abed in the hospital following his attack on 15 July 2024

Nagham Zbeedat reports in Haaretz on 16 July 2024:

A well-known anti-Hamas activist from Gaza, Ameen Abed, is in critical condition after being seriously wounded when several masked men kidnapped and beat him in the northern Gaza Strip last week.  On the day of his assault, 35-year-old Ameen published a critical post on his Facebook page accusing Hamas of dividing Palestinians “by isolating Gaza and working to brainwash” its citizens.

Hamas “was prepared to pay any price to maintain control over the ‘golden goose’ – its leaders and their investments abroad,” he charged, accusing the group of cooperating with foreign governments and leaders to ensure its control over Gaza. “Let us preserve what remains of our humanity,” he wrote on Facebook. “We are tired, world. I swear, we are tired.”

A video posted by Ameen’s father, who is, according to his social media, a supporter of Fatah (the largest faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization and Hamas’ political rival) shows Ameen being wheeled on a stretcher following the beating.  In the caption, he explains that unidentified armed men assaulted his son with machetes while he was walking home in the city of Jabaliya in northern Gaza. Ameen was admitted to the emergency room at the city’s Al Awda Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

“This is the price for anyone who tries to reveal the truth and support the homeland and its vulnerable citizens,” said Salah Abed, adding that his son’s attackers had attempted to silence him.  The masked men claimed to be part of Hamas’ security forces during the assault, the BBC reported.

Abed’s friend, Amer Balousha, who was arrested in Gaza in 2017 for his activism and social media posts highly critical of Hamas, according to Qatari-owned Arabic-language site Al Araby Al Jadeed, said on Facebook that “twenty or more masked men” assaulted Ameen while he was at the Al-Fakhura school in northern Gaza.

“For more than 40 minutes… Ameen was attacked in the middle of his neighborhood, which is mostly empty and has been reduced to rubble,” Balousha said. Several women who happened to be nearby shouted when they heard Ameen being struck, “They’re killing him! Hamas is killing Ameen!” according to Balousha.

The masked men “fired shots in the air,” Balousha said, but “the sight of Abed being beaten made the neighborhood’s residents refuse to leave, which scared the masked men away.”

Ameen’s friends from Gaza and beyond have been posting regular updates on his medical condition in hopes of generating pressure for his evacuation from Gaza for treatment. According to Majed Abu Amra, a Palestinian from Gaza, Ameen is suffering from internal bleeding, specifically in his kidneys, and his body has rejected blood transfusions. “We hope that everyone who can help transfer Ameen [out of Gaza] will not hesitate or withhold their help,” Abu Amra wrote on Facebook, also asking for prayers.

Following the update on Ameen’s condition, a new hashtag, #AmeenMustBeTreated, is spreading on social media, urging for his urgent medical evacuation amid Gaza’s shortage of medical supplies, staff and the decreasing functioning of its hospitals.

While many users are sharing the hashtag and praising Ameen for his activism and bravery, some say that more urgent medical cases should receive attention and urging the public to press for medical evacuations of others.  Following the attack, Fatah’s media wing issued an official statement condemning it and emphasizing that the use of terror and violent attacks on activists would not deter them.

In 2019, Ameen was arrested for protesting the dire living conditions and frequent electricity cuts in the Strip as a participant in the “We Want to Live” movement. According to Independent Arabia, the movement, which does not claim to have any political or factional affiliation, was initiated by social media activists and youth groups. Protesters held several demonstrations, including one in March 2019, against the economic situation in Gaza, which security services attempted to suppress.

At the time, Ameen and six other protesters received a summons from the Internal Security Force, Hamas’ intelligence wing. “A written summons arrived at my house at approximately 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, August 22, 2019, stating that I must appear at Internal Security Force headquarters on Saturday morning, August 24, 2019,” Abed told the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights NGO in Gaza. When he arrived, he “was subjected to an interrogation over the ‘We Want to Live’ movement and my posts on social media,” he said.

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