Critics say small crowd at Gaza hostage release was made by Hamas to seem like it was bigger

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

People gather around a vehicle of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square in western Gaza City for the handover of three Israeli hostages on January 19, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)
People gather around a vehicle of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square in western Gaza City for the handover of three Israeli hostages on January 19, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)

Hamas critics in Gaza have been sharing on social media a photo of today’s transfer of the three Israeli hostages from the terror group’s fighters to the Red Cross, revealing that the crowd present was smaller than what may have appeared in Hamas’s footage of the event.

Those posting the zoomed-out photo are arguing that the terror group is far less popular in Gaza following 15 months of war sparked by its October 7, 2023, onslaught, which has left the coastal enclave and its population decimated.

Only several hundred Hamas members and supporters appear to have been present at the transfer.

 

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