Protests erupted around the Arab world on Friday as the Gaza war raged and an Israeli ground operation with the potential to displace millions of Palestinians loomed.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and the West Bank after Islamic Friday prayers to protest Israel’s actions in its war on Hamas.
The war has so far killed 4,127 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. It was launched by Israel in retaliation for an October 7 attack on the country by Gaza’s Hamas rulers — Israeli authorities say 1,400 people were killed and around 200 were taken hostage.
In a sign of the growing anger over the Israeli operation in Gaza, Egypt sanctioned its first major nationwide protest in a decade. Hundreds of protesters gathered Friday near downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square in support of Palestinians, and demonstrations occurred in other Egyptian cities.
Some of the Cairo protesters chanted, “Where is the Arab army?” and, “Here they are, the Zionists,” referring to Egypt’s riot police, who pushed demonstrators into nearby Bab el-Louk Square and closed access to Tahrir.
In the Lebanese capital, Beirut, several hundred people took to the streets to denounce the Israeli offensive. Many waved the Palestinian and Lebanese flags, along with the flags of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and its political ally in Lebanon, Amal. Young protesters burned the American flag, decrying Washington’s support for Israel.
Hundreds of Iraqis, mostly supporters of Iran-backed militias, staged a sit-in Friday at Iraq’s main border crossing with Jordan. Others protested in Baghdad, not far from the fortified Green Zone that houses the United States embassy.
In Jordan’s capital, Amman, some 6,000 protesters marched in support of Gazans. Some chanted slogans urging Hamas to intensify its strikes on Israel, Reuters reported.
The protests signal growing anger on the Arab street and frustration among regional leaders with the war as the Palestinian death toll climbs, and with the US’ perceived unwillingness to put restraints on Israel’s actions.
Rhetoric against Israel has been particularly heated from the governments of Jordan and Egypt, two US-allied countries that border the Jewish state and were the first Arab nations to sign peace treaties with it. Amman and Cairo have sounded alarms over what they perceive as a plan to transfer Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank to Egypt and Jordan. While Israel has not announced any such plans, both countries have warned such a move could pull them into war.
Read more about protests across the Middle East.