Israel has been raining missiles and bombs on the besieged Gaza Strip after the Hamas resistance movement surprised the regime with a large-scale offensive on Saturday.
Hamas forces entered the occupied territories through land, air and sea after thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli military positions.
The regime has ordered a “total blockade” of Gaza not letting any food, fuel, electricity, or medicine inside the enclave. “We are fighting with human animals and we will act accordingly,” said Israel’s war minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday as civilian casualties inside the impoverished strip began to rise.
So far more than 1600 Palestinians have been killed during Israeli attacks with more than 500 children among the dead. Videos show Israel has also been using white phosphorus bombs to strike Gaza, whose use on civilian areas is considered to be a war crime. The regime has reduced entire neighborhoods in the densely populated region to rubles and has also told 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to leave their homes and relocate to southern regions, something that revived Nakbah memories. The 24-hour notice by the regime came on Friday. That’s while so far, more than 300,000 Gazans have been displaced due to Israel’s relentless bombings of civilian areas. Authorities in Gaza say more than 90% of the regime’s targets consist of residential buildings.
The United Nations Human Rights chief has urged Israel to respect the dignity and lives of Palestinian people and “spare the civilian population and civilian objects” during its attacks. “The imposition of sieges that endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under international humanitarian law,” Volker Turk added.
The regime however seems unlikely to back down on its crimes as it’s been receiving unequivocal support from Western leaders. Antony Blinken, the United States Secretary of States, and Pentagon Chief James Austin have travelled to the occupied territories after Joe Biden said he would “ensure Israel has what it needs to respond to Hamas”.
Leaders in the UK, Canada, France, Germany, the EU, and NATO have also voiced strong support for the regime without mentioning any of the horrifying crimes Israel is currently committing against Palestinians.
But despite Western leaders’ loyalty towards their proxy in West Asia and a massive propaganda campaign backing the regime, citizens around the world did not hesitate to express their revulsion with Israeli crimes in Gaza; even though any protest in support of Palestine might bring about draconian consequences for demonstrators in the West.
Iran
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran, Mashhad, Yazd, Ghazvin, Hamedan, Karaj, Ardabil, Sanandaj, Hormoz and several other cities in a powerful display of support for the Palestinian people.
“Death to Israel. Death to Zionism!” shouted Iranian demonstrators, while carrying Palestinian flags and placards asking for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
“This operation was the result of the accumulation of anger of a nation that has been displaced from their lands by occupiers,” said the chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami during a speech addressing the demonstrators while pointing to the history of Israeli crimes against Palestinians such as the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982.
“This was a heavy defeat for the Israeli regime because Palestine could deal a devastating blow to the regime’s military and intelligence bodies without the partnership of any other power,” Salami added.
Iraq
After a call by prominent Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, thousands of people gathered at Tahrir Square in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to condemn Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. “No to the occupation! No to America!” chanted the demonstrators.
“This rally is aimed at condemning what is happening in occupied Palestine, the bloodletting and the violation of rights,” said one of the organizers of the protest.
Protesters waved Palestinian and Iraqi flags while a huge Israeli flag was laid on the ground for the demonstrators to trample on.
Iraqi officials have shown full solidarity with Palestinians. “Today’s Palestinian actions respond to longstanding oppression by the Zionist occupation, which ignores international resolutions. We urge global intervention to restore Palestinian rights, cautioning against escalation that could destabilize the region, and call for an urgent Arab League meeting on the Palestinian situation,” reads a statement by the Iraqi government.
Jordan
In Jordan, more than 10,000 people massed in central Amman near Grand Hussein Mosque to voice support for the Palestinian cause. Thousands decided to move towards the Western borders with the occupied territories but Jordanian police proceeded to shoot tear gas and grenades at marchers.
“We are here to support the Palestinian people in Gaza. I have seen scores of police, who have attacked us. They cannot suppress our rights. We are here to defend our human rights,” a Jordanian demonstrator told the Middle East Eye.
Jordanian authorities banned pro-Palestinian protests in Jordan Valley and border areas on Thursday. “Calls for gatherings and demonstrations in the Jordan Valley and border areas are not allowed,” the Arab country’s interior ministry said in a statement.
The crackdown on protestors happened as Jordan’s King Abdullah arranged a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State on Friday. The king called for the prevention of a “spillover of the crisis into neighboring countries and the exacerbation of the refugee issue”.
Yemen
Among the several protests taking place in West Asia, the people of Yemen garnered the most attention due to the huge number of demonstrations.
After several days of rallies, Yemenis once again gathered in cities across the country to express their unflagging support for the Palestinian cause. Images of people gathered in Sana’a show a population of tens of thousands of people waving Palestinian flags and calling for a cease of Israeli atrocities. The people of Yemen are no strangers to war and destruction. The country is just reeling from an eight-year war imposed by Saudi Arabia.
Yemen’s popular Ansarallah movement has also expressed readiness to help Palestinians in Gaza. “We in Yemen are with the Palestinian people in every way we can, and we will not abandon the oppressed Palestinian people and their resistance, which defends them and has the right to do so,” Nasreddin Amer, deputy information secretary of the movement, said on Monday.
Persian Gulf
Some Persian Gulf countries were the scene of pro-Palestinian protests on Friday. Hundreds flocked to the streets in Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain.
In Bahrain, protesters had to cover their faces to avoid arrest by the forces of the country’s embattled ruler, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. “We will always support our brothers in Palestine. If we were able to reach them, we would have fought alongside them,” a protester told French media while speaking on condition of anonymity.
Protests have also occurred in the United Arab Emirates in recent days. The UAE and Bahrain were among the four Arab states that normalized ties with the Israeli regime under the so-called Abraham Accords. The Abraham Accords which began during the Trump administration aimed to sideline the Palestinian cause and present Israel as the sole administrator of occupied Palestinian lands.
Saudi Arabia was next to join the normalization deal but halted its talks with the regime after Israel started its aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Europe
French protesters defied a Thursday ban by French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin who announced a systematic prohibition of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in France.
Police used teargas and water cannons to disperse protesters who gathered in the capital of Paris on Friday. “Palestine will win,” “Israel murderer,” and “Macron accomplice” demonstrators shouted as they condemned the French government’s support for the “terrorist” regime of Israel. Protesters were also attacked in other French cities during previous rallies.
The same ban was imposed by authorities in Germany. “Our law governing associations is a sharp sword. And we, as a strong constitutional state, will draw this sword,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an address to parliament in Berlin.
Rallies have also been held in the UK and Italy in solidarity with Palestinians who might lose their lives any moment under Israel’s bombardment and siege.
United States
In the U.S., pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters have been dueling for several days across the country.
A viral video shows that several people at a pro-Israel protest in New York City called for the Gaza Strip to be “flattened” and for genocide against Palestinians on Wednesday.
Thousands of other protesters have slammed such rhetoric and chanted “freedom for Palestine” in New York City and Washington D.C. There is also a long list of U.S. universities where American students have staged protests in support of Palestine.
In Harvard, more than 30 student groups signed a statement blaming Israel for its spiraling violence against Palestinians. “Students hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” said the statement.
Pro-Palestinian protests have also taken place at Indiana University, Arizona State University, California State University Long Beach, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Colombia slamming Israel’s occupation of Palestine as a crime.
First published in Tehran Times
