MidEast

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Hamas Arrests YouTube Star for Making Video About Power Outages

A comedian from the Gaza Strip was arrested by Hamas on Wednesday after he made a viral video lamenting daily power outages in the area, the Associated Press reported.

Adel al-Mashwakhi was arrested hours after sharing a one-minute clip about the hardships of living under the Islamist terror group, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The video, titled “Hamas, it’s enough,” garnered more than 250,000 views on YouTube by Thursday afternoon.

“(Take) everything, but electricity, Hamas,” al-Mashwakhi said in the video, which highlighted ongoing outages that have severely affected the amount of power afforded to Gazan homes.

Gaza residents have taken to the streets to protest the power cuts, leading to a number of arrests, according to the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network.

“Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, has ruled the territory since 2007, routinely clamping down on critics,” the AP noted. “Despite the hardships, anti-Hamas protests have been sporadic, in part because of fear and because even disgruntled Gazans believe there’s no realistic path to toppling the militants.”

In August, Hamas announced that one of its operatives was electrocuted to death while working on a tunnel in Gaza, indicating that the Islamist group was diverting power meant for civilian use to bolster its terror infrastructure.

Israel was forced to increase the amount of electricity it sends to Gaza in June after repeated shutdowns at Gaza’s only power plant due to a payment dispute between Hamas and Fatah.

[Photo: AFP news agency / YouTube ]