Tens of thousands of pro-Palestine protestors are preparing to rally in Istanbul on Aug. 3, the day the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for to be declared “International Gaza Day,” according to a report in the Turkish newspaper Sabah.
Three days before Israel assassinated him during a visit to the Iranian capital of Tehran, Haniyeh called on all Arab, Muslim and world nations to the streets in solidarity with the people of Gaza under Israeli bombardment and Palestinian captives in Israeli prisons.
Following Haniyeh’s shocking killing, pro-Palestinian activists are taking his call as his “final will” and organizing protests around the world, Sabah wrote.
The Türkiye Youth Foundation (TÜGVA) and National Willpower Platform have announced protests in front of the historic Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul and in the capital, Ankara, against Israel.
Rallies have been widespread across Türkiye since Oct. 7, with hundreds of thousands of citizens protesting Israel and its military backer, the U.S., for months on end.
Similarly, thousands of protestors took to the streets in Istanbul’s Fatih district late on Wednesday to condemn Haniyeh’s killing, which has drawn threats of revenge on Israel and fueled concerns that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.
The demonstrators held posters with Haniyeh's photos and banners reading, "Martyr Haniyeh, Jerusalem is our cause and your path is our path." They were chanting, "Murderer Israel, get out of Palestine," "Thousands of greetings from Istanbul to the resistance in Gaza," and waving Turkish and Palestinian flags during the march.
Israel, flouting a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
At least 39,445 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.
Nearly ten months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas's international diplomacy as Israel has waged war on Gaza. He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the assassination in Tehran and said the killing would not break Palestinians' will.
