RAMALLAH: Waving Hamas flags and carrying portraits of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, hundreds rallied in support of the Palestinian struggle in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah Monday, the first anniversary of Hamas’ attack on the Zionist entity. About 400 Palestinian protesters of all ages and representing various political factions marched in the de-facto Palestinian capital, which is controlled by long-time Hamas rival the Palestinian Authority.

Activists organized the rally on the first anniversary of Hamas’ unprecedented attack under the slogan “we will not lose faith in the revolution”. Beyond the characteristic yellow and green flags of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, protesters also waved the flags of Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. Hezbollah, as well as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Houthis in Yemen, have sporadically fired rockets and missiles at the Zionist entity since the start of the Gaza war.

Demonstrators also chanted “salute from Ramallah to Hezbollah soldiers”, and “put the sword against the sword, we are the men of Mohammed Deif”, in reference to Hamas’ military chief. The Zionist entity says it killed Deif — nicknamed “the cat with nine lives” — in a strike in July, which Hamas denies.

Other participants held up a box shaped like a coffin that bore the words “International Law” and “Arab League” on its sides.

“We came to remember our martyrs, wish recovery for our wounded, and congratulate the resistance (to the Zionist entity), whether Palestinian, Lebanese, Iraqi or Yemeni, for their struggles over the past year,” Jamila Johar told AFP, saying he was “hoping for victory”. Others praised Hamas’ Oct 7 attack. “We came to raise our voices and say that the Palestinian struggle continues, and that the 7th of October took us from a phase of humiliation to a phase of dignity and pride,” said a man who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Similarly, Afaf Ghatasha, who identified herself simply as a member of the Palestinian People’s Party, said Oct 7 “changed the course of the Palestinian cause, the region, and the world”. “We came to say that the world will not find stability until the occupation ends and a Palestinian state is established,” she added. The Zionist offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,909 people, the majority of them civilians. – AFP