SDPI holds meetings in Kerala in support of Palestinians amid Israel war
Oct 13, 2023
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], October 13 : Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) members on Friday held a protest in Kerala in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Holding up placards, the SDPI members chanted slogans against the ongoing Israeli counter-offensive in Gaza.
One of the placards, said "India with Palestine".
Earlier in a statement, the SDPI said that it would hold demonstrations in district centres in "solidarity with the Palestinian people who are fighting for the liberation of their homeland".
"The Israeli Zionist regime is killing people inch by inch through severe measures like cutting off drinking water, essential medicines and electricity. The agreements and peace terms made through international peace talks have been violated and the Palestinian people have been made refugees in the land of their birth," SDPI said.
"Also, Palestinian civilians are being killed and imprisoned on a daily basis through military interventions. It's the struggle for survival of the struggling Palestinian people that is going on now. The Israeli government is fully responsible for the current bloodshed and massacres. It is the duty of all humane people to show support and solidarity to the freedom struggle of the Palestinian people," it read.
Earlier in the day, the locals in Hyderabad, and elsewhere, staged protests in support of Palestine after offering Friday prayers.
Massing in a street after the Friday prayers, the protesters chanted "Gaza will never die" and "Long live Palestine".
As the numbers swelled, a police contingent arrived at the scene and went about breaking up the protest and removing the demonstrators from the spot.
A similar protest was also organised at Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir, with the demonstrators chanting slogans against Israel and America.
As the Israel-Hamas conflict entered the seventh day, the Israel Defence Forces called for an immediate evacuation of Gaza. In a statement, the IDF said that all civilians of Gaza City must move from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza.
At least 1,537 Palestinians have been killed and 6,612 others injured in the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, CNN reported citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.
At least 36 people have died and more than 650 have been injured in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
United Nations Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that more than 338,000 Palestinians have been displaced due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, CNN reported. He further said that nearly 218,000 of those are sheltering in 92 schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said that the death toll from the Hamas terror attacks on Israel has jumped to 1,300 and more than 3000 have been injured.
He also touched on the ongoing efforts to collect the bodies and bring them to Tel Aviv for identification before handing them over to their loved ones. Calling it a "tedious and detailed process", he noted that Israel has never in history faced such a situation.
"Unfortunately the number of Israeli casualties has risen to 1,300 Israeli civilians and soldiers and more than 3000 wounded. There is a massive national effort involving almost all of the security organisations and many of the ministries of the Israeli state, which is focused on taking the bodies from the same communities that we spoke about yesterday, like for instance ... and other communities and the entire southern area, collecting the bodies, bringing them to a centre in Tel Aviv, identifying them and then making sure they are next to their kin. Their loved ones are able to take them and to provide them with a final and respectable burial that's ongoing," Lt. Col. Conricus said.