Thousands of Palestinians across West Bank protest against Israeli war on Gaza

AFP , Sunday 3 Aug 2025/ https://english.ahram.org.eg/News

Thousands of Palestinians protested in the occupied West Bank's major cities Sunday against Israel's war on Gaza and in support of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

One of the largest marches took place in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority located just north of Jerusalem, with hundreds gathering at the main square, waving Palestinian flags.

Many protesters carried photos of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel, as well as photos showing the starvation in the Gaza Strip under Israel's blockade, where UN-backed experts have warned that a "famine is unfolding."

"My son is in (Israel's) Megido prison and he suffers from many things, such as the lack of medicine the lack of food," Rula Ghanem, a Palestinian academic and writer who took part in the march, told AFP.

She told AFP that her son had lost 10 kilograms and suffered from scabies in jail.

The number of Palestinians jailed by Israel has skyrocketed since Tel Aviv launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.

Many of the prisoners have been arbitrarily detained, including for posting political statements on social media, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs says

The commission's spokesman Thaer Shriteh told AFP: "The international community is a partner in all this suffering, as long as it does not intervene quickly to save the Palestinian people and save the prisoners inside the prisons and detention centre."

A group of protesters dressed as skeletons and carried dolls around to symbolise the Gaza war's dire effect on children, who are most at risk of malnutrition.

Israel has enforced a deadly five-month blockade that has choked the territory off from food, water, fuel and medical supplies. The territory was already under blockade, albeit less severely, for 15 years before the war began.

UN agencies, humanitarian groups and analysts say that much of the trickle of food aid that Israel allows in is looted or diverted in chaotic circumstances.

"We hope that our stand today will have an impact in supporting our people in Gaza and the hungry children in Gaza," said 39-year-old Tagreed Ziada, one of the protesters at the Ramallah march.

Protests were held Sunday in other major Palestinian cities such as Nablus in the north and Hebron in the south, with many government employees receiving a day off to attend the demonstrations.

While there have been somewhat regular demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza, they are rarely coordinated across various cities in the West Bank.