TEHRAN : Thousands have rallied across the Arab and Muslim world to protest the deaths of hundreds of people in an Israeli strike on the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Palestine’s Gaza.
Condemnation was widespread across the region and angry crowds gathered on Wednesday after calls from Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Palestinian factions for mass mobilisation.
Protesters took to the streets of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah and Nablus, shouting “Free, free Palestine”.
“Death to America, death to Israel,” hundreds of Hezbollah supporters chanted at a rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“The Israelis will try to target more hospitals, rescue workers, civil defence volunteers and Gaza’s residents without flinching, in order to push Gaza’s people out,” senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine told the demonstrators.
Thousands of people demonstrated across Egypt in solidarity with Gaza after 12 days of Israeli bombardment, Egyptian media reported.
President Abdel Fattah el Sisi had said that if he called for protests in support of the Palestinian cause, “you would see millions” on the streets of Egypt – where protests are banned.
In Germany, people protest against Israel’s hospital bombing outside the Chancellery in Berlin.
‘No Zionist embassy on Jordanian land’
In Tunisia, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the French embassy, condemning Western support for Israel.
Some waved Palestinian flags while others demanded the ambassador be expelled, accusing France of being among the Western “allies of the Zionists”.
Some 5,000 Jordanians gathered outside the Israeli embassy, demanding the expulsion of Israel’s diplomatic mission.
Security forces blocked off roads leading to the embassy but the size of the demonstration looked set to swell due to the anger in Jordan, which is home to many Palestinian refugees.
“No Zionist embassy on Jordanian land,” protesters chanted, brandishing Palestinian flags.
In Iraq, hundreds protested in the capital Baghdad, brandishing Palestinian flags.
In the Syrian capital Damascus, hundreds of people with Palestinian flags gathered near the parliament.
“Martyrdom or victory,” one banner read.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan also called for region-wide protests on Friday and Saturday, demanding the “expulsion of the ambassadors of the Zionist entity in all Arab and Islamic capitals”.
Courtesy: TRTWorld and agencies
