Middle East: Hundreds in Gaza protest against Hamas

Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua, one of Hamas' spokespeople, has been killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip's northern city of Jabalia, Hamas-affiliated news agency Shehab said.

According to the report, al-Qanoua was staying at one of Jabalia's tent camps. Medical sources said several people were injured in the strike, Reuters news agency reported.

Al-Qanoua is the third senior Hamas figure to have been killed by Israel this week, after political office member Ismail Barhoum and senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardaweel.

Germany's acting Interior Minister Nancy Faeser traveled to the Jordanian capital Amman to discuss migration and security issues with Jordanian government representatives. 

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner joined the trip, in a visit that comes after US President Donald Trump proposed to resettle and force out Gaza's population of more than 2 million to Arab countries.

Jordan already hosts a sizeable population of Palestinians and has taken in around 1.3 million refugees from Syria as a result of that country's civil war that broke out in 2011, according to government estimates. 

Germany's Faeser said that during the trip to Jordan she will discuss the voluntary return of Syrians to their home country, saying that for many, the hope for peace in Syria after the fall of ruler Bashar Assad "is also linked to the hope of returning and rebuilding their country."

Faeser added that Germany had supported Jordan in the reception and care of refugees and would continue to do so.

Germany's Olaf Scholz, whose government Faeser is a part of, earlier strongly condemned Trump's proposal that the US could take ownership of Gaza and relocate the Palestinians from there to other parts of the Middle East.  

Germany's Jewish Central Council criticized the German government for a lack of engagement in the plight of Israeli hostages.

Council president Josef Schuster told German newspaper Tagesspiegel that he was disappointed with the government's public stance on the issues of the hostages, accusing Berlin of "keeping a low profile" so as not to "alienate supposed negotiating partners."

"Calls for the release of the hostages were usually accompanied by admonishing words to Israel; what indifference!" Schuster said.

He criticized a "yawning silence" at the funeral of Shiri Bibas and her two children, whom he pointed out were German citizens and whose fate "has torn all our hearts apart."

Schuster called it "a low point in German foreign policy."

Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza expressed outrage in rare anti-Hamas protests for a second consecutive day. AFP news agency reported that according to witnesses, protesters have called for an end to the war with Israel.

The rare public outburst against Hamas began on Tuesday in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, where some 3,000 people gathered, with many chanting "the people want the fall of Hamas," AP news agency reported.

Northern Gaza has been hit particularly hard during the war, with most of its infrastructure reduced to rubble and with scores displaced.

In the hard-hit Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, dozens of men chanted "Out, out out! Hamas get out!" according to AP reporting.

In Gaza City protesters were seen holding banners reading "Hamas does not represent us."

The rare show of dissent towards the militant group comes more than a week after the Israeli army resumed its bombing campaign following nearly two months of a truce.

Today, DW is focusing on rare protests against Hamas taking place in northern Gaza. 

Northern Gaza has been one of the most devastated areas of the territory, with most of the infrastructure in the densely populated area having been reduced to rubble. Much of the population has been displaced. Social media videos showed people chanting "Hamas out."

Meanwhile, Germany's Jewish Central Council criticized the German government for how it is handling the hostage crisis in Gaza. The Council's chief Josef Schuster said he was "disappointed" with what he sees as Germany's lack of "public commitment to the fate of the Hamas hostages."