Tens of thousands of Muslims demonstrated across the Middle East on Friday in a “day of rage” declared by Hamas in support of Palestinians and against the increasing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s massacre of 1,300 people in southern Israel last Saturday regional conflict as Israel prepares for a possible ground operation.
A statement on the Israeli Foreign Ministry website warned that Hamas had called on “all its supporters around the world” to hold a “Day of Rage” on Friday to “attack Israelis and Jews.”
From the typically quiet streets of downtown Amman in Jordan to Yemen’s war-torn capital Sanaa, throngs of Muslim worshipers poured into the streets after weekly Friday prayers, angered by intense Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The IAF swung into action after the terrorist group Hamas launched an unprecedented and devastating surprise attack on Israel, killing around 1,300 people, most of them civilians. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas’s ability to harm Israelis and says it attacks wherever Hamas operates.
At the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police allowed only certain elderly men, women and children to enter the hotspot compound for prayers to limit the potential for violence. According to the Islamic foundation that manages the mosque, only 5,000 worshipers made it to the site. On a typical Friday, about 50,000 people pray.
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Young Palestinian men, denied entry, gathered on the steps near the Lions Gate until police drove them out of the Old City walls.
“We can’t live, we can’t breathe, they’re killing everything that’s good in us,” said Ahmad Barbour, a 57-year-old cleaner, red-faced and angry after police barred him from attending prayer.
“Everything that is forbidden to us is allowed to them,” he added, referring to the Israelis.
Palestinian worshipers pray outside Jerusalem’s Old City as Israeli forces stand guard, Oct. 13, 2023 (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
The mosque is located on a hilltop site that is sacred to both Jews and Muslims. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and stands on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.
Hundreds of young Palestinian worshipers who had been turned away from the Old City threw small prayer rugs onto the streets and prayed outdoors in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz. When some of the men began shouting, Israeli police charged into the crowd with batons and fired tear gas at worshipers, wounding at least six people, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Thousands demonstrated in Amman in neighboring Jordan, some chanting: “We are going to Jerusalem as millions of martyrs!”
“What do they want from Palestine? Do you expect them to leave?” asked protester Omar Abu-Sundos. “What is left of Palestine to leave? They won’t go.”
Jordanian protesters attempting to reach Jordan’s Israeli-controlled border with the West Bank reportedly clashed with police.
In Beirut, thousands of supporters of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah waved Lebanese, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags, chanted slogans in support of Gaza and called for “Death to Israel.” The Iran-backed terror group in neighboring Lebanon has carried out sporadic attacks on Israel since the Hamas attack.
A Hezbollah supporter holds up an Arabic poster reading “It will definitely fall” during a protest to show solidarity with Palestinians, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, October 13, 2023 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla )
Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general warned it would “be on the lookout” for U.S. and British naval ships heading to the Mediterranean. U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, have repeatedly warned Iran and Tehran-backed regional militias to stay out of the conflict between Israel and Gaza terror groups.
“We are not interested in your battleships, and your statements do not scare us,” Naim Kassim said at a rally in a southern suburb of Beirut. “When the time is right to take action, we will.”
In Baghdad, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Tahrir Square – the Iraqi capital’s protest center – for rallies called by influential Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
“We as Iraqis know the pain of having an occupier on our land,” said protester Alaa al-Arabyia, referring to the U.S. occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. “Palestinian women have husbands, relatives and sons who are fighting against the occupation. We stand with them in their fight.”
Protesters also poured into the streets after prayers across Iran, a supporter of Hamas and Israel’s regional archenemy. In Tehran they burned Israeli and American flags and chanted: “Death to Israel,” “Death to America,” “Israel will be doomed,” and “Palestine will be the conqueror.”
Iranian believers burn a representation of the Israeli flag in Tehran, Iran, October 13, 2023. (AP photo)
“The Palestinian people are fed up, now your idea is to destroy Gaza, the people’s homes,” Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech in the country’s southern Fars province. “The people of the world and in Palestine will give you trouble.”
There was also a rally in the Syrian capital Damascus.
“I tell people not to leave their homes, otherwise they will be like our grandparents who left Palestine and came to Syria but never returned,” said Ahmad Saeed, a 23-year-old Palestinian living in Syria referring to the 1948 war of independence.
In Yemen’s Sanaa, held by Iran-backed Houthi rebels still at war with a Saudi-led coalition, protesters crowded the streets waving Yemeni and Palestinian flags. The rebel slogan has long been: “God is the greatest; Death to America; Death to Israel; curse of the Jews; Victory of Islam.”
“We are ready to actively participate and deploy hundreds of thousands of mujahideen to defend Palestine, the Palestinian people and the holy sites,” the Houthi government said in a statement on Friday.
After Friday prayers, Egyptian demonstrators surrounded downtown Cairo’s historic Al-Azhar mosque, the Sunni Muslim world’s most important religious institution, chanting that Israel remains their enemy “generation after generation.” They repeated the traditional nationalist slogan: “We give our souls and our blood to Al-Aqsa.”
In the Pakistani capital Islamabad, some believers trampled on American and Israeli flags.
Protesters raise an Israeli flag during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Quetta on October 13, 2023 (Banaras KHAN / AFP)
“International media and international courts are turning a blind eye to the injustices against the Palestinians. But they only notice the measures Palestinians are taking to defend themselves,” said Faheem Ahmed, a believer in Karachi. “They call it terrorism.”
Because of concerns about possible attacks, Jewish institutions around the world have increased security.
An Israeli embassy employee was stabbed and injured in China on Friday. The attack was under investigation – it was not clear whether it was related to the Day of Rage.