Pro-Palestine rallies held across world as truce takes hold in Gaza
Thousands of people rallied across the world on Friday to voice their unfaltering support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, on the first day of a truce after some 50 days of brutal Israeli war on the besieged territory.
The Yemeni people thronged the streets in the capital Sana’a to express their solidarity with Gazans as they waved Palestinian flags and shouted pro-Palestine slogans.
“Our first and central cause is Palestine, and we will not give up standing for this cause,” protester Muhammad al-Theali said, AFP reported.
“We are ready to offer financial, moral and psychological support – support with our funds, souls, sons, weapons to confront the enemy’s arrogance, the American and Israeli arrogance against Muslim people.”
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm in response to Tel Aviv’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.
The Government Media Office in Gaza announced in a report on Thursday that at least 14,854 Palestinians, including more than 6,150 children and 4,000 women, have been killed and over 36,000 others injured in the Israeli strikes.
The Qatari-mediated truce, which came into effect early on Friday, would see the exchange of captives and the delivery of relief aid to the Gaza Strip over a span of four days.
Under the terms of the agreement, for every Israeli captive released, there will be three Palestinian prisoners released, namely women and children. Two hundred aid trucks that include medical supplies for the entire Gaza Strip will also be allowed in during the four-day ceasefire.
Turks flock to Istanbul in support of Gaza
Also on Friday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Turkish city of Istanbul to slam the Israeli military campaign in the coastal silver.
The protesters held funeral prayers in absentia for two Turkish nationals who were reported by local media to have been killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon.
Since the start of the war, the south of Lebanon has seen the scene of sporadic exchanges of fire and shelling between the Israeli military and the resistance movement Hezbollah, which has reportedly fired more than 1,000 rockets, mortars, missiles, and drones at Israel.
Jordanians support ceasefire in Gaza
Meanwhile, crowds in the Jordanian capital demonstrated support for Palestinians on Friday after the start of a temporary ceasefire in the besieged area.
The Jordanians carried signs and banners in support of Palestinians as they marched through the streets of Amman.
“Today is the day of victory, today is the beginning of the collapse of Israel, today is the beginning of the victory of the Arab and Islamic nation, today what the resistance has done, is something that has never happened in the history of humanity,” said protester Abdel Majid Dandis.
