[1/3]Yemenis gather during a pro-Palestinian protest to express solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Sanaa, Yemen, October 20, 2023. Houthi Media Center/Handout via Portal THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY and acquires license rights
- Thousands demonstrate in Jordan, Egypt and Turkey
- Smaller demonstrations in Indonesia, Malaysia and India
- Rallies demand an end to the intensive bombing of the Gaza Strip
- Israeli campaign follows Hamas attack that killed 1,400 people
AMMAN/CAIRO, Oct 20 (Portal) – Protesters from Jakarta to Tunis called on Friday for an end to Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip after nearly two weeks of intense air and artillery attacks that authorities there said killed 4,100 people.
Israel is preparing for a ground war in the tiny, crowded Palestinian enclave to root out Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rampaged through Israeli cities on October 7, killing 1,400 people and taking hostages.
While some Western governments expressed support for Israel’s military campaign, many Muslim states called for an immediate ceasefire, with many of their populations angered by conditions in Gaza and expressing solidarity with the Palestinians.
Protests erupted suddenly across much of the region late Tuesday after Gaza authorities said an explosion at a hospital had killed hundreds of people. Hamas said an Israeli airstrike was responsible. Israel blamed a failed rocket launch by a Palestinian group.
In Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1994 but where much of the population is of Palestinian descent, more than 6,000 demonstrators marched in the center of the capital while thousands more gathered near the Israeli embassy.
The demonstrators expressed support for Hamas, calling on it to attack Israel with rocket attacks and suicide bombings, and addressed the Palestinian group by chanting: “We are your army.”
Thousands of protesters also gathered in Turkey and Egypt, two other countries that have long had full diplomatic ties with Israel, demanding an end to the bombing.
About 2,000 people gathered outside the Beyazit Mosque in Istanbul, burning an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and waving Palestinian flags. Some held signs reading “Stop the Genocide” and “Terrorist Israel.”
In Egypt, thousands of protesters stood outside the Al-Azhar mosque, one of the world’s oldest, chanting “Where is the Arab army?” while others gathered in the central Tahrir Square.
Some called for military action against Israel, others said Arab states should consider other methods to stop the bombing of Gaza. Egypt borders Gaza but has been unable to negotiate opening the border crossing to allow aid deliveries.
“Palestine is the only country that unites our voices. If the Gulf states don’t send aid, they should at least stop sending oil and gas. This is the least they should do,” said protester Mohammed Gomaa in Cairo.
BURNING FLAGS AND effigies
In Morocco, where the government in 2020 agreed to normalize relations with Israel in return for U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, Islamists and leftists said they would hold a sit-in later on Friday.
Hundreds of people marched in central Tunis, a smaller protest than those who had gathered there in recent days against Israel’s Gaza campaign. Others demonstrated in front of the US Embassy.
“The real terrorism is Israel and America supporting it,” said Souhail Ben Nasser, a protester in the crowd in Tunis.
In Southeast Asia, hundreds of people gathered to protest near US embassies in the capitals of Indonesia and Malaysia, burning Israeli flags and trampling pictures of Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.
“Today we gather here with the same intention of condemning Israel’s criminal act,” said Qilla Marisa, a protester in Kuala Lumpur.
Muslims in India staged small protests in Jaipur and Mumbai, holding placards reading “Free Palestine.”
Israel’s main regional foe Iran and allied groups in the region also staged state-sponsored protests. In Iraq, Tehran-backed Shiite militias mobilized hundreds of supporters in Baghdad near the bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy is located.
At Iraq’s border with Jordan, hundreds of supporters of Iran-backed paramilitary groups staged a sit-in to show their support for Gaza, arriving by bus. “We will support our people in Palestine,” said one of them, 26-year-old Hussein Samir.
(This story has been corrected to show that much of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian descent, rather than that they hold Palestinian citizenship, in paragraph 5)
Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo, Amina Ismail in Baghdad, Tarek Amara in Tunis, Ali Kucukgocmen and Bulent Usta in Istanbul and Ahmed Eljechtimi in Rabat; Writing by Angus McDowall; Edited by Daniel Wallis
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