The chairman of the political bureau of the Hamas resistance movement has lauded tens of thousands of people who poured onto the streets in Western countries to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying the United States and its Western allies should listen to their nations’ calls.
“I do salute the huge masses gathering in Washington and the massive crowds that took to the streets in various Western capitals to show their solidarity with our people, and demand an end to the war of genocide in Gaza,” Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement late on Saturday.
He argued that such massive rallies in different parts of the world confirm that freedom-loving people are fed up with the policies of the occupying Israeli regime and its atrocities.
“The US administration and the countries giving cover to the Israeli aggression should listen to their peoples’ calls.
“We have noticed that the peoples of the world have loudly chanted: Freedom for Palestine, Resistance is Legitimate, and Occupation will End,” Haniyeh said.
Pro-Palestine demonstrations took place on Saturday in various cities, including Washington, DC; London; Paris; Berlin; Milan and Dhaka.
In Turkey, a convoy of Palestine supporters headed to a US military base in the south of the country for a protest to coincide with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s arrival to the country on Sunday.
Large crowds also held sit-down protests in London, blocking Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus before marching to and gathering in Trafalgar Square.
Protesters held “Freedom for Palestine” placards and chanted “ceasefire now” and “in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians”.
Additionally, thousands marched in central Paris to call for a ceasefire with placards reading “Stop the cycle of violence” and “To do nothing, to say nothing is to be complicit.”
Hamas calls for opening Rafah crossing ‘permanently’
Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said Palestinian resistance fighters have been waging the battle against the occupying Tel Aviv regime so efficiently, and that Israel has failed to achieve any progress in the war.
“The Israeli occupation army has been targeting civilians in Gaza to cover up its failure in the war. It has committed 1,000 massacres against Palestinians in the enclave, the last of which was bombing ambulances,” Hamdan said at a press briefing in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Saturday.
He added, “Hospitals are sustaining a disastrous situation in light of the acute shortage of fuel and medical needs. The humanitarian aid brought into the blockaded enclave does not suffice. The Rafah crossing must be opened permanently.”
The high-ranking Hamas official held the US administration, President Joe Biden in particular, responsible for the ongoing developments in Gaza.
He also slammed Arab rulers, describing them as weak and below the anticipated level.
Hamdan underlined that journalists and media offices have been targets of Israeli airstrikes, calling for continued solidarity and activism aimed at halting the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Israel’s genocidal attacks on the Gaza Strip has reached at least 9,572 people. More than 26,000 individuals, mostly women, children and the elderly, have been wounded as well.
The Tel Aviv regime launched the war after Gaza’s resistance groups conducted Operation al-Aqsa Storm, their biggest operation against the occupying entity in years.
Since the onset of the war, the US has backed Tel Aviv’s ferocious attacks on the Palestinian territory as a means of “self-defense.”
Washington has also been casting its veto against the United Nations Security Council resolution that calls on the occupying regime to cease its aggression.
