Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war
RABAT : Tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrated Sunday in the capital Rabat against the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for the reversal of the kingdom's normalisation deal with Israel.
Protesters gathered in the city centre, brandishing Palestinian flags and placards calling for the free flow of aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
'It's a disgrace, Gaza is under fire', 'Lift the blockade', 'Morocco, Palestine, one people' and 'no to normalisation', chanted the demonstrators.
They had gathered at the call of various organisations, including a coalition bringing together the Islamist movement Al-Adl Wal-Ihssane and left-wing parties.
The war in Gaza, sparked by rebel group Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people who live in the coastal territory.
Most people have been displaced at least once by the fighting, and doctors and aid agencies say they were seeing the physical and mental health effects of 21 months of war, including more acute malnutrition.
'Palestinians are being starved and killed before the eyes of the whole world,' said Jamal Behar, one of the demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday.
'It is our duty to denounce this dramatic, unbearable situation.'
Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalisation deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the North African kingdom as the war in Gaza rages into its 22nd month.
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