Thousands of protesters in Arab countries expressed their outrage this Wednesday over the bombing that killed hundreds in a hospital in Gaza, blamed on Israel by the Islamist movement Hamas.
There were large rallies in Amman, Tunis, Beirut, Damascus and other capitals following the tragedy which, according to the Gaza Strip Health Ministry, left at least 471 dead and prompted calls for a “day of anger” in the Arab to land.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls the area, accuses Israel of being responsible for the attack. The Israeli military rejected the accusations and attributed the attack to a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, classifying the accusations as “lies.”
On Wednesday, about 5,000 Jordanians gathered in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman to demand the expulsion of the Israeli diplomatic mission following the attack.
Security forces blocked the roads leading to the embassy, but the demonstration gained momentum amid anger on the streets of Jordan, a country hosting a large number of Palestinian refugees.
In Tunisia, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in front of the French embassy and condemned Western support for Israel.
Some held Palestinian flags, while others demanded the expulsion of the ambassador. They accused France of being part of the “Western allies of the Zionists.”
In Lebanon, hundreds of people carrying Palestinian and Hezbollah flags took part in a demonstration called by the Shiite party in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
“What is happening in Gaza is not conflict, or war; (…) serial massacres are being committed,” said an official of the movement, Hashem Safiedine.
“The Israelis will try to attack more hospitals, paramedics, aid workers and residents of Gaza, with the aim of expelling the residents,” he added, before warning Israel against this “project.”
Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati declared a day of national mourning on Wednesday.
In Damascus, the Syrian capital, hundreds of people gathered at the parliament. Many of them wore sweatshirts with an image of President Bashar al-Assad.
Thousands of Egyptians also demonstrated in several cities, according to images published by local media and on social media.
In other Muslim countries, Turkey has declared three days of national mourning over the attack on the hospital in Gaza.
“A three-day mourning period will come into effect, as a sign of solidarity (…) with the pain of these innocent people,” said Omer Çelik, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi accused the United States of being “complicit in the crimes” of Israel.
“The bombs falling on the people of Gaza are American (…) The world sees the United States as complicit in the crimes of the Zionist regime,” Raisi told thousands of demonstrators gathered in a square in Tehran.
Source: DN
