People weren't supporting hamas, they were condemning the indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
That message was picked up by the russians etc and turned into a wedge issue on social media.
That message was picked up by the russians etc and turned into a wedge issue on social media.
At least within my little bubble, I saw a lot more concern about that than the fact that Hamas had basically committed a massive war crime on October 7th. The only people consistently talking about the hostages that I saw were my Jewish friends. Otherwise, it was mainly "Free Palestine".
It's worth remembering that they also mainly targeted civilians, and that basically no nation-state today would do too much different from what Israel has been doing. If you were to kill, rape, and kidnap the proportional equivalent of any country's civilian population, you are likely to see their military attack you, and not stop until you at the very least returned the hostages.