Palestinians rally in West Bank in support of Gaza

West Bank (AFP): Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Friday in the streets of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where some expressed support for Hamas amid Israel’s ongoing war against the militant group based in Gaza.

The crowd chanted slogans including: “liberate Gaza” and “the people want the Al-Qassam Brigades” in reference to Hamas’s armed wing. Others waved Hamas flags along with banners representing a range of Palestinian movements.

Fakhi Barghouti, 80, said Palestinians in the West Bank “need to do more about the war in Gaza”.

Several people refused to answer AFP’s questions, believing that Western and particularly French media coverage of the war was “biased”.

The demonstration came just hours after Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians during a dawn raid in the north of the occupied West Bank, with Hamas members among the dead.

Violence has risen sharply in the West Bank in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.

Since then, more than 100 people have been killed and more than 1,900 injured in the West Bank, according to health officials there, mostly in raids by Israeli troops or in clashes with Israeli settlers.

On October 7, throngs of Hamas gunmen poured from Gaza into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 229 more, according to Israeli officials.

In retaliatory Israeli air and artillery strikes, at least 7,326 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 3,038 children, according to figures released by the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The fatalities in Gaza are the highest there since Israel withdrew from the Palestinian territory in 2005.