hamas don’t care about public opinion. The PLO cared. The PLO was largely destroyed from within with much of the power and funding shifting to hamas (allegedly with israeli government support).
Iran allegedly gave them funding and helped them smuggle even more weapons in. They used these to engage in acts of terror. This will lead to more power and support from third parties. And the retaliatory strikes from israel will lead to more recruits from within whatever remains of Palestine when this is over.
But the goal is not to achieve freedom. Because hamas knows it can’t rule. At best we would have a debacle like in Afghanistan or any of the islamic state ruled regions/countries. They are just violent warlords who want all the power and “prestige”, the right to rape and murder anyone they want, and that is it.
And, much like with israel’s atrocities, it is really easy for people to ignore the evil shit hamas does because “they are an oppressed people fighting for survival”. That goes out the window when the oppression does.
The PLO, for all its flaws, wanted to become a government. And while they still exist, they are even less influential than the youtubers telling people what to feel about the past 24 hours or so.