In the recent days, a video was widely circulated on social media featuring part of a March 30, 2025 interview with senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. 

In the interview, which aired on a  Libyan television channel, Abu Zuhri referred with indifference to the number of Palestinians who have been killed in the Gaza war, calling this "the price we have to pay," and remarked that the women of Gaza will compensate for the loss by "producing" more babies than those who have been killed.

Abu Zuhri's remarks sparked considerable anger in the Gaza Strip. At a demonstration held in Khan Yunis on May 19, 2025 calling to end the war, protesters condemned Abu Zuhri and the Hamas movement, chanting: "Abu Zuhri, you despicable man! The children have a right to live! and "Out with Hamas!"

Gazans on social media expressed outrage at Abu Zuhri's remarks, claiming that the Hamas leadership, in its insolence, imperviousness and insensitivity, is willing to sacrifice all the people of the Gaza Strip in order to remain in power, and that, for the leadership, the dead in Gaza are no more than numbers or tactical losses and a means to achieve temporary political goals.

It should be noted that this is not the first time that senior Hamas officials have demonstrated indifference to the victims of the Gaza war, calling them "tactical losses." In a speech he delivered on the first anniversary of the Gaza war on October 7, 2024, Khaled Mashal stated that the Palestinian losses in the war, and especially the numerous deaths, were merely "tactical," as opposed to the strategic blows dealt to Israel. Furthermore, in November  2023, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said that the Gaza tunnels were intended to protect Hamas' fighters, not the residents of Gaza, whose protection was the responsibility of the UN and of Israel.

This report reviews criticism of Abu Zuhri and the Hamas leadership posted on social media from within the Gaza Strip,

"Free Gaza" Facebook Account: Hamas is prepared to sacrifice all the Gazans to remain in power

A post on the "Free Gaza" Facebook account, which frequently publishes criticism against Hamas, read: "Sami Abu Zuhri believes that souls can be remanufactured in Hamas's factory for [making] people… Hamas's religion is based on [the principle] that human lives are as cheap as they can possibly be. In order to safeguard Hamas and its rule in Gaza, they [Hamas] have no problem sacrificing Aziz [a Gazan whose photograph accompanies the post] and his family, along with the entire Jabalia refugee camp and the northern Gaza Strip, [or actually] all of Gaza and its two million souls… [They believe] that the time of people's death is predestined and has nothing to do with Hamas. The important point is for the negotiations to guarantee Hamas' continued [control] over Gaza on the day after [the war]. Other than that, everything is marginal…"

Gaza-based Facebook user Ashraf Nasser, who frequently criticizes Hamas, wrote: "Sami Abu Zuhri wants the people [of Gaza] to make [new] humans to replace those who have been lost, so that [Hamas's] enterprise, which is based on bloodshed, will endure!" He followed this with a series of brutal curses against Hamas.