Thousands in Istanbul protest Israeli attacks on Gaza
4,000 people protested Israel’s ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip in the Turkish metropolitan city of Istanbul on Thursday.
Holding Palestinian flags, the protesters gathered at Sultanahmet Square in the Fatih district upon a call by the Palestinian Initiative and marched toward Eminönü Square while chanting slogans against Israel.
Local and foreign tourists passing by supported the protesters, while police teams took security measures in the surrounding area. Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian enclave since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, in which 1,139 Israelis were killed. More than 32,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 74,900 injured due to Israel’s attacks amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli army has also imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving most of the population, particularly residents of the north, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war, now in its 174th day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which, in an interim ruling in January, ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
In its Thursday verdict indicating additional measures, the top court ordered Israel to ensure “unhindered provision” of urgent aid to Gaza. The ICJ said: “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine ... but that famine is setting in.”
Türkiye has been a virulent critic of Israel since the start of the war and a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause, including holding talks with Palestinian, Israeli and Hamas officials.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called Israel a “terrorist state” and accused it of carrying out a genocide in Gaza. He has expressed full support for Hamas and rejected the Western stance of classifying it as a terrorist organization.
Türkiye has also dispatched over 40,000 tons of aid to Egypt for delivery to Gaza, either by military planes or vessels, as recently on Thursday. The Turkish public’s outrage too has been intense since Oct. 7, with mass protests nationwide condemning Israel’s relentless attacks, calling for a permanent cease-fire and public agencies, municipalities, universities and even Parliament taking part in a boycott of goods of Israeli origin.