Thousands of people from Muslim countries and elsewhere around the world protested on Friday in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. They called for an end to the blockade and Israeli attacks after Hamas militants’ brutal invasion of southern Israel, which controls Gaza.
After Friday prayers in the West Bank, protesters made their way to Israeli military checkpoints and gathered in Iraq at the country’s border crossing with Jordan. in Jordan itself; in locations throughout Egypt; in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and in Istanbul, the most populous city; and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and South Africa.
Tuesday night’s explosion at a Gaza City hospital treating wounded Palestinians and residents seeking refuge was a major theme in some protests. The cause of the explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital is not clear.
According to the US assessment, the explosion was not caused by an Israeli airstrike, as initially reported by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. Israel has provided video, audio and other evidence that it says shows the explosion was caused by an ill-fated rocket fired by Palestinian militants who denied responsibility.
The Associated Press has not independently verified any of the allegations or evidence presented by the parties.
The Israeli siege of Palestinian territory and airstrikes thereon were the focus of demonstrations earlier this week at Egyptian universities, at a congressional office building in Washington, outside the Israeli embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, and near the American embassy in Beirut.
Nearly two weeks after the Hamas attack on Israel, these protests continued as Israel prepared for an expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 4,000 people have been killed and more than 13,000 injured since the war began in Gaza, most of them women, children and the elderly. According to authorities, more than 1,000 people are believed to be buried under the rubble.
More than 1,400 people have died in Israel, most of them civilians killed during the deadly Hamas incursion. About 200 others were kidnapped.
WEST BANK
On Friday, protests broke out in major cities in the occupied West Bank after midday prayers. Palestinians streamed out of mosques and made their way to Israeli military checkpoints in Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem, where they threw stones at troops and burned tires. Israeli security forces responded by using tear gas and live ammunition.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank reported that 21 people were injured by gunfire from soldiers. Tension was particularly high in Hebron, where Hamas activists called for mass protests. Residents of Hebron shared copies of leaflets they said were dropped by Israeli military drones across the city, warning that “anyone who demonstrates in the name of Hamas will be persecuted.” There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
In Tulkarem on Friday, gunfire and gunshots were heard from militants during the funerals of 13 people who died in a battle with Israeli troops in the Nur Shams refugee camp.
The last 13 days since the outbreak of war have been the deadliest in decades in the West Bank. More than 80 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
EGYPT
Thousands of Egyptians demonstrated in cities across the North African country in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
In a rare move, the Egyptian government approved and even helped organize 27 meeting places for protesters on Friday. Since coming to power in 2013, the government of Abdul Fatah El Sisi has banned large public demonstrations. But pro-Palestinian protests were also registered in non-designated areas.
Hundreds of people gathered in the courtyard of the Al-Azhar Mosque, the world’s main Sunni Muslim religious institution, in central Cairo. “Oh, Al-Aqsa, do not worry, we will redeem you with our soul and blood,” they chanted after Friday noon prayers. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is located in the disputed Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known by Jews as the Temple Mount and the holiest site in Judaism.
In a march that is not among the government-sanctioned demonstrations, dozens of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square, where they were cordoned off by security forces. Cairo’s central square was the focus of the 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
At official protest sites in major Egyptian cities, state television showed demonstrators waving flags and shouting pro-Palestinian slogans.
Although Egypt has operational ties with both Israel and Hamas, the vast majority of Egyptians are sympathetic to the Palestinians and their desire for independence.
Over the last week, El Sisi has publicly criticized Israel and accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of trying to liquidate the Palestinian cause by pushing Gazans into Egyptian territory.
LEBANON
Dozens of supporters of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and others protested in a southern suburb of Beirut to demand the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip and to support Palestinians living there.
“We salute the heroes of Gaza, the people of Gaza, the elderly, men, women and children,” said Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar. Protesters waved Hezbollah, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and burned an American flag.
Clashes broke out between Hezbollah and the Israeli army in cities on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The militant group has threatened escalation if Israel launches a ground invasion in Gaza, while Israel has vowed to take aggressive retaliation in Lebanon if that happens.
The Lebanese government and the international community fear that a ground invasion would spread the war to the country and other places in the region.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a months-long war that ended in 2006 with no clear winner.
Associated Press journalist Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem; Jack Jeffery in Cairo; Abdulrahman Zeyad in Baghdad; Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Türkiye; Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Niniek Karmini and Andi Jatmiko in Jakarta, Indonesia; Nicole Winfield in Rome and Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg contributed to this report.