Hamas is responsible for Gaza's destruction.

This myth is a classic technique of genocide denial. It shifts responsibility from the perpetrator to the victim by portraying Palestinian resistance, rather than Israeli settler colonialism, as the source of violence. To suggest that Palestinians are responsible for destruction rooted in a century-long system of Israeli settler colonialism is to justify collective punishment and normalize genocide. Israeli structural violence predates Hamas and operates regardless of it. Israel alone bears responsibility for choosing genocide as its response.

This myth is a colonial inversion of reality. Hamas's October 7 attack did not emerge in a vacuum. It arose in the context of more than seven decades of settler colonialism and over five decades of military occupation, long before Hamas even existed. It also followed sixteen years of blockade and repeated military assaults on Gaza. Palestinian resistance did not create this reality. It emerged in response to it.

Israel claims Gaza's destruction is Hamas's fault, but the reality is clear. Long before Hamas was founded in 1987, Israel had already devastated Gaza. The 1948 Nakba transformed Gaza through the mass expulsion of Palestinians into the Gaza Strip, the collapse of its economy, and the loss of its historic trade, agriculture, and cultural life. After 1967, Israel occupied Gaza, seized control of its borders, land, movement, and resources, and systematically prevented independent development. Hamas did not create these conditions. It emerged in response to them.

Even before the genocide, Israel's blockade and repeated military offensives since 2007 had already made Gaza uninhabitable. By 2022, 80% of Gaza's population depended on humanitarian aid, nearly half the workforce was unemployed, and around two-thirds of Palestinians lived in poverty. By the end of 2023, Gaza's GDP per capita had fallen by 54% compared with its 2006 level.

Since October 2023, Israel has escalated that destruction into genocide. Israeli officials have openly framed the entire population as a target, not Hamas. President Herzog stated that "an entire nation is responsible." Those declarations were followed by the killing of over 75,00000522-4/fulltext) Palestinians, the destruction or damage of over 80% of Gaza's buildings, and the forced displacement of nearly all 2.1 million residents. Blaming Hamas is a propaganda tactic that deflects responsibility for the war crimes Israel is committing.

This claim creates a false equivalence between a nuclear settler-colonial power with one of the most advanced militaries in the world, backed by major global powers, and a colonized people with the right to resist occupation. These are not comparable actors. One enforces an illegal system of domination. The other resists it.

The Great March of Return exposes this claim completely. For around two years, tens of thousands of Palestinians protested every week along the Gaza fence, demanding an end to the siege and their right to return. Israeli snipers responded with live fire, killing over 200 unarmed protesters and maiming thousands more. When even grassroots protest is met with lethal force, the claim that Hamas is the cause collapses. The issue is Palestinian existence itself being treated as a threat.