The Islamist group Hamas called on Palestinians to hold mass protests in the Palestinian territories and the Muslim world next Friday and Sunday to demand the opening of the Rafah border crossing, which connects Gaza with Egypt and has been practically closed since the beginning of war.
“We call on our people throughout the homeland and abroad, and on all members of the Arab and Islamic nation, and on the free peoples of the world, to intensify popular mobilization in the coming days and to actively demonstrate on Friday and Sunday "Hamas said in a statement.
According to the Islamist group, the protests will be held under the slogan "Open the Rafah crossing" and "Stop the genocidal war in Gaza" in the wake of "the horrible massacres of the Israeli occupation" against "defenseless civilians, children and women ".
This call comes at a time of high tension in Israel and the occupied territory of the West Bank, where violence has intensified significantly with more than a hundred Palestinians killed as a result of the escalation with Hamas.
Israel declared war on Hamas, which de facto controls the Gaza Strip, after an attack by the Islamist group on October 7 that included the launching of rockets and the incursion of more than a thousand militiamen, who tortured, killed and kidnapped residents of Israeli villages near the Palestinian enclave, leaving more than 1,400 dead, 5,000 injured, and 220 hostages.
Since then, Israel has responded with constant bombing and brief ground incursions that have left more than 6,500 dead and 17,000 injured, 70% of them children, women and the elderly.
Added to this is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, where 1.4 million people - more than half of its population - have been displaced to the south by order of Israel, despite the fact that the bombings also carry out carried out in the southern part of Gaza.
In addition, the population of the Strip suffers from the total cutoff of the supply of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel imposed by Israel after the start of the war, which has already lasted 20 days, which has caused the collapse of hospitals and the spread of diseases such as scabies and gastrointestinal infections.
The Rafah crossing has been opened on time for the passage of a total of 62 trucks with humanitarian aid, reported OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, which highlights the insufficient nature of this aid, since "the daily average of trucks authorized to enter Gaza before the hostilities it was about 500."
Furthermore, this aid does not include the supply of fuel, vital to power the hospitals' electrical generators.
This situation "threatens to deepen the humanitarian disaster," Hamas warned, in its call to "press by all means to open the crossings and bring urgent relief." The international community is pressing for Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the enclave.
