Mobs Angry Over Bombing of Gaza Hospital Clash With Police Across the Middle East
In Turkey, the protesters clashed with police in at least a dozen cities Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
Angry mobs across the Middle East are taking to the streets in increasingly violent protests over the bombing of a hospital in Gaza that authorities in both Israel and the United States now say was caused by an errant rocket fired from within the Palestinian territory.
In Turkey, the protesters clashed with police in at least a dozen cities Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning after that countryâs president, Tayyip Erdogan, blamed the bombing on Israel and called it âthe latest example of Israeli attacks devoid of the most basic human values.â Official Turkish accounts on social media labeled Israelâs disavowal of responsibility âfake news.â
Among the targets of the Turkish protesters was the Israeli consulate in the capital, Ankara. Police used pepper spray and water cannons to disperse the crowd, according to wire service reports, but not before at least five of them managed to enter the compound. Israel has urged its citizens in Turkey to leave the country immediately.
In Israelâs West Bank, which has been locked down since the terrorist attacks in the south of Israel on October 7, protesters clashing with Palestinian security forces demanded the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian authority.
Late Tuesday and again Wednesday, mobs in neighboring Jordan, long considered one of Israelâs more stable neighbors, attempted to storm the embassy of Israel at the capital, Amman. Security forces blocked off roads leading to the embassy as a crowd, initially estimated to number around 5,000 people, began to swell Wednesday afternoon.
In Egypt, thousands of students rallied at universities at both Cairo and Alexandria condemning the bombing of the hospital despite the official denials of Israeli responsibility. The protesters chanted âDeath to Israelâ and âWith our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa,â referring to the mosque in Jerusalem. A smaller group rallied outside the American embassy in Cairo.
Protests also erupted at Lebanon, whose southern border with Israel has been the scene of sporadic skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah terrorists. âThe Arab street has a voice,â a history professor at Kuwait University, Badr al-Saif, told the Associated Press. âThat voice may have been ignored in the past by governments in the region and the West ⊠but they cannot do this anymore.â
âPeople are on fire,â he added.