Moroccans protest Israel's continued attack on Gaza, calls for a ceasefire

Moroccans protest Israel’s continued attack on Gaza, calls for a ceasefire

Thousands of Moroccans took to the streets of Casablanca on Sunday in a display of solidarity with Palestinians, according to reports from AFP correspondents.

The demonstration occurred more than three weeks into the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Banners at the march called for an end to the “genocide in Gaza,” reflecting concerns raised by Palestinian officials and Arab leaders regarding the high civilian death toll in Gaza, which has exceeded 8,000 people, as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry.

The conflict was triggered by massive raids launched by Hamas militants into southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,400 people, primarily civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The rally in Casablanca also featured banners demanding the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and the closure of the Zionist (Israeli) liaison office in Rabat, which had been established after Morocco and Israel normalized diplomatic relations in 2020 through a US-brokered agreement.

Jamel El Assri, the coordinator for the anti-normalization alliance, a coalition of leftist parties and Islamists that organized the protest, expressed that the significant turnout demonstrates “the Moroccan people’s unified support for the Palestinian cause.” This demonstration is the most recent in a series of rallies in Morocco since the Israel-Hamas conflict began.

Protester Amina Boukhelkhal stated, “We came to show our solidarity with the Palestinian people in their resistance, to appeal for the lifting of the blockade against Gaza, and for an end to the war.” Men, women, and children, adorned with keffiyeh scarves and waving Palestinian flags, marched through a major thoroughfare in Casablanca, chanting slogans like “the (Israeli) occupation must fall,” “the people want the liberation of Palestine,” and “we reject normalization.”

The 2020 normalization agreement, which established formal ties between Israel and Morocco, also saw the United States recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.