On the night of the 17th (local time), an airstrike hit a hospital in Gaza City, a key city in the northern Gaza Strip of Palestine, killing more than 500 people, leading to large-scale anti-Israel or anti-American protests in the West Bank of Israel and the surrounding Arab countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, and Iran. Tensions in the Middle East are further heightened as protests break out. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah defined the 18th, when US President Joe Biden visited Israel, as a ‘day of rage’, called for high-intensity protests and hinted at the possibility of attacking Israel.
According to the British daily Guardian and the Qatari state-run Al Jazeera broadcast on the 18th, the day before, protesters and PA security forces clashed in various parts of the West Bank ruled by the PA, such as Ramallah, the administrative center of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Nablus, Tubas, and Jenin. The protesters targeted PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who had cooperated with Israel and was lukewarm about Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes after the surprise attack by the Palestinian armed group Hamas, and claimed, “The (Palestinian) people want the downfall of the president.” Security forces clashed with stone-throwing protesters, firing tear gas and other weapons.
On the same day, hundreds of protesters in Lebanon, believed to have been instigated by Hezbollah, staged an anti-American demonstration near the U.S. Embassy in Akar, a suburb of the capital Beirut. Protesters chanted slogans such as “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” threw stones at the embassy, and set fire to nearby buildings, AFP reported. The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to Lebanon on the morning of the 18th and approved the departure of family members of U.S. government officials in Lebanon. Hundreds of people with Hezbollah flags gathered at the French Embassy in Beirut and protested by throwing stones at the main gate.
Hezbollah said on the 17th, “Tomorrow (the 18th) will be a day of unprecedented anger against the enemy and its crimes,” adding, “Biden’s journey to visit the Zionist regime to cover up and protect criminals will cause unprecedented anger.” “It will be a good day,” he claimed.
In Amman, the capital of Jordan, protesters supporting Hamas attempted to enter the Israeli embassy on the 17th and demanded that the Jordanian government terminate the peace treaty with Israel. In Tehran, the capital of Iran, protesters gathered outside the British and French embassies on the morning of the 18th, throwing eggs at the French embassy building and shouting, “Death to France and Britain.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on the 17th, “We strongly condemn the attack on the hospital,” and criticized, “This is a facility where patients, medical staff, caregivers, and refugees were housed.”
As concerns grow that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East will escalate, the possibility that the U.S. military will intervene is gradually emerging. Axios, an Internet media outlet specializing in U.S. politics, reported on the 17th that the Biden administration is considering U.S. military intervention as one of its options if Hezbollah fully participates in the Middle East war.
Paris =
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.