Hundreds demonstrated outside the British and French embassies in Tehran, US and Israeli embassies in Amman, while several thousand gathered in Palestine Square in the centre of the city….reports Asian Lite News
The bombardment of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital has triggered a wave of anger and protests across the Middle East with protesters taking to the streets in at least eight countries to condemn the deadly attack, media reports said.
Hundreds demonstrated outside the British and French embassies in Tehran, while several thousand gathered in Palestine Square in the centre of the city.
“Death to France and England,” protesters shouted, throwing eggs at the walls of the French embassy compound in the Iranian capital, Al Jazeera reported.
Thousands also gathered at the US and Israeli embassies in Amman with tens of thousands of others taking to the streets across the country.
Israel has reportedly evacuated the embassy several days ago. Demonstrators had already attempted to break into the embassy last night and were dispersed by the Jordanian police, Times of Israel reported.
Protests also erupted in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has traded fire with Israeli forces at the border.
“The Arab street has a voice. That voice may have been ignored in the past by governments in the region and the West … but they cannot do this anymore,” Bader al-Saif, a university lecturer, said. “People are on fire”, Al Jazeera reported.
Angry protesters gathered outside the French embassy in Tunis, also denouncing the US.
The hospital massacre triggered protests in the occupied West Bank, with hundreds of Palestinians taking to the streets in Ramallah. There were confrontations with security forces. One Palestinian protester has reportedly been killed by Israeli forces in a village near Ramallah.
Protests were also held in Libya, Yemen, and Morocco to denounce the attack on the hospital, Al Jazeera reported.
Mass rallies took place in the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon last night in the wake of a hospital blast in Gaza that Hamas claims resulted from an Israeli airstrike.
Israel has maintained that a misfired Gazan rocket caused the blast.
Death Toll Skyrockets
The death toll in the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict is nearing 5,000, with thousands of others injured and displaced as a result of the violence which continued for the 13th day on Thursday.
In its latest situation update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) said the death toll in Israel as of Thursday morning stood at 1,400, which included foreign nationals, as Palestinian armed groups’ continued indiscriminate rocket firing towards Israeli population centres.
The number of injured increased to 4,562.
According to the OCHA, Israel’s death toll is over threefold the cumulative number of Israelis killed since the Office began recording casualties in 2005 (nearly 400).
Meanwhile, at least 199 people are currently being held captive in Gaza, it added.
Citing the Palestinian Health Ministry based in Gaza, the OCHA said that the death toll in Gaza has increased to 3,478, including 853 children, with about 12,500 others injured.
The UN agency said the deadly bombing at Al Ahli Arab Baptist hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday left at least 471 people dead, including children, healthcare staff and Internally Displaced People (IDPs).
The overall death toll in Gaza in the last 12 days of hostilities has significantly surpassed the total number of fatalities during the 2014 escalation, which lasted for over 50 days, resulting in 2,251 Palestinian deaths, the OCHA said.
Meanwhile in the West Bank, 64 people have died since the conflict erupted on October 7, including 18 children. The number of injured persons stood at 1,284.
The cumulative number of IDPs in Gaza is estimated at about one million, including over 513,907 people staying in UN Relief Works Agency-designated emergency shelters , of whom 353,539 are in central and southern Gaza alone.
Since October 11, Gaza has been under a full electricity blackout, following Israel’s halt of its electricity and fuel supply, which in turn triggered the shutdown of the besieged enclave’s sole power plant.
The Office also said that the complete siege of Gaza continues, with the Rafah, Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings remaining closed.