Thousands took to Baghdad, Amman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and to denounce the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, in the seventh day of the war between the Hebrew state and Hamas that followed a surprise attack launched by the movement against Israel.

Tahrir Square in Baghdad was filled with thousands of demonstrators who responded to the call of the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. The participants chanted slogans, “No, no, to the occupation,” “No, no, America,” and “No, no to Israel.”

A huge Israeli flag was also drawn on the ground for the demonstrators to trample on, as an Agence France-Presse photographer saw.

The demonstrators raised Iraqi and Palestinian flags, and pictures of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr.

Abu Kayan, one of the movement's organizers and a member of the Sadrist movement, told Agence France-Presse, "The demonstration is a denunciation and denunciation of what is happening in occupied Palestine, the bloodshed and violation of rights that are occurring."

In the vicinity of Tahrir Square, where the demonstration is taking place, strict security measures were imposed by the Sadrist movement. Iraqi security forces were also deployed heavily.

On October 7, Hamas launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” during which its fighters penetrated Israeli areas simultaneously with the firing of thousands of rockets toward Israel.

1,300 people have been killed in Israel, most of them civilians, since the start of the attack, the number of wounded exceeded 3,200, and the number of hostages taken from Israel reached about 150, according to the army. In the Gaza Strip, about 1,800 people were killed, including at least 580 children, and about 7,400 were injured as a result of the intense Israeli bombing in response to the operation, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, Israel continued its intense bombardment of Gaza, while launching new batches of rockets in its direction. On Friday, Israel also ordered the residents of Gaza City to evacuate and move south, in a measure rejected by Hamas and which the United Nations confirmed would affect 1.1 million people and would have “devastating” consequences. Since Hamas launched its operation against Israel, the political class in Iraq has generally expressed its support for the Palestinian cause, which It also enjoys consensus in Iraq.

The Iraqi government, which enjoys the support of a parliamentary majority of parties loyal to Iran, considered in a statement that the sudden attack launched by Hamas is a “natural result of the systematic oppression” to which the “Palestinian people” are subjected at the hands of the “Zionist occupation authority.”

- Demonstrations in Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon -

In northern Bahrain, hundreds of worshipers inside the Diraz Mosque chanted, “Death to Israel!” and "Death to America!" Before Friday prayer. They then participated in a protest march with hundreds, most of whom wore the traditional kandura, and some of whom placed Palestinian keffiyehs on their shoulders or heads.

The demonstrators trampled Israeli and American flags placed on the ground. Veiled women carried banners reading, “The flood will not subside” and “The Al-Aqsa flood is the battle of the entire nation.”

In Lebanon, about a thousand people participated in a demonstration called by Hezbollah in the southern suburb of Beirut, carrying Palestinian flags, party banners, and banners reading, “At your service, Gaza.”

Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naeem Qassem, confirmed during the demonstration his party’s readiness “whenever the time comes for any action” to take action against Israel in support of the Palestinians.

In Cairo, photos posted on social media showed hundreds of demonstrators chanting slogans of solidarity with Gaza at Al-Azhar Mosque. Al-Azhar University said in a statement on Thursday that Arab and Islamic governments must take a “unified position in the face of the inhuman Western circumvention of support for the Zionist entity.”

Meanwhile, thousands of Jordanians demonstrated in the center of the capital, Amman, and other cities after Friday prayers, in solidarity with the Gaza Strip and in support of the Palestinian “resistance.” In Amman, more than 20,000 people participated, according to an estimate by security sources and AFP photographers, in a demonstration that began in front of the Grand Husseini Mosque, in response to calls from the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and other leftist and youth groups.

Prohibition of demonstrations

Meanwhile, in a mosque in central Riyadh, where the authorities are preventing demonstrations, an Agence France-Presse journalist saw police officers handcuffing a worshiper who chanted during Friday prayers, addressing the imam, “Speak about Palestine, Gaza is under bombing!”

The imam replied, “This pulpit is not for politics,” while three police officers arrested the man.

Police cars were deployed in front of other mosques in the city.

In the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Osama bin Abdullah Al-Khayyat said as his eyes teared up a little, “Oh God, protect the Muslims in Palestine” and “Oh God, have mercy on their weakness.”

At the same time, thousands took to the streets in Tehran and other Iranian cities in support of the Gaza Strip.

The demonstrators raised Palestinian flags, flags of the Islamic Republic, and Hezbollah flags, and carried banners reading “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” according to an Agence France-Presse journalist.

Demonstrations also took place in other cities across Iran, during which protesters burned American and Israeli flags.

Iran supports the Palestinian Hamas movement militarily and financially.

Calls for Friday movements were issued in various parts of the world in solidarity with the Palestinians and the Gaza Strip.

Thousands demonstrated in Pakistan after Friday prayers to protest the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.

In Afghanistan, hundreds of people also participated in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians in the capital, Kabul, and in Jalalabad in the east, organized at the initiative of the Taliban authorities.

In France, where President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on Israel to respond “strongly and justly” to the “terrorist” operation, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered a ban on “pro-Palestinian demonstrations because they are likely to lead to disturbances in public order.”