HAVANA: President Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba led a huge protest rally Thursday in support of Palestinians as Israel wages war on Gaza.
Protest demonstrators waving Palestinian flags criticized the US for its support of Israel as the rally made its way along the seaside promenade called the Malecon, under a hot sun.
Cuban Ministry of Interior said on its social media account that around 100,000 people took part in the march, convened by associations of youth groups in the country. “What youth taking part in this rally want is that the assaults on Palestine halt,” said Cristina Diaz, a student at Havana University. She said that it would be simple to think this is a war, “It is genocide.”
Gaza: Cuban President Marches in Support of Palestinians
President Diaz-Canel walked at the head of the procession along with his wife, Lis Cuesta, and top government officials. As the demonstrators marched past the US Embassy on the seaside avenue, some shouted “fascist yankees, you are terrorists.”
It was the biggest of several such pro-Palestinian protests held in Cuba since the war on Gaza started. Many Palestinians studying medicine in the country also attended the rally. Isaam Aldawodeh, one of the students said that many thanks to the government and people of Cuba for always having supported the people of Palestine.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian doctor said that at least 27 people have been killed and more than 93 injured in an Israeli attack on a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip, western media reported on Thursday.
The attack hit the UN-run school where thousands of displaced Palestinian people were sheltering in Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in Gaza Strip, the doctor said on condition of anonymity.
The fresh attack occurred as the clock ticks down on an announced truce between Israel and Hamas. Israel also launched fresh strikes on the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza, targeting the main entrance and power generators in the hospital, Arab media reported.
Gaza Health Ministry officials also confirmed that the hospital had come under intense bombing. Over 200 patients, internally displaced people and medical staff were currently at the hospital in Beit Lahiya.
