"Hamas tortures Gazans to silence protests. Terror group resorts to ever crueller methods to keep control of a desperate population"

The face of the young man staring into the camera as the crowd streams around him is strong and defiant.In his hands, the 26-year-old holds a banner bearing an incendiary message: “Hamas does not represent us.”An accompanying video shows him spurring on others, openly fanning the flames of dissent while many of the people around him nervously avert their faces to avoid being identified on camera.That man is Ahmed al-Masri, one of the key organisers in northern Gaza of the protests that rocked the enclave in April and May.This week, pictures emerged of the same man on a stretcher, a frightened and helpless look in his eyes, his legs a bloodied mess. According to multiple sources who spoke to The Telegraph, Mr Al-Masri was abducted by Hamas gunmen in Beit Lahia, near the northern border with Israel, whereupon he was brutally tortured.His feet were deliberately broken with large stones and iron crowbars; he was also shot in the legs.