Egypt declares 3-day mourning in solidarity with Gaza amid protests

Egypt declared three days of mourning following the Israeli strike on a Palestinian hospital in Gaza which killed nearly 500 people.

The Egyptian presidency said in a statement yesterday: “President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the President of the Republic, decided to declare three days of national mourning in the Arab Republic of Egypt for the innocent victims of the criminal bombing of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, and all martyrs of the brotherly Palestinian people.”

Earlier, the Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that the toll of the “massacre” that targeted the Baptist Hospital on Tuesday evening amounted to 471 dead and hundreds injured, 28 of whom were in critical condition, amid the continuing Israeli bombing of the Strip.

In turn, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, launched the “Your Wounds Pain Us” initiative, aiming to equip field hospitals in Gaza with medical beds.

Reda Hegazy, the Egyptian minister of education, called on students  to hold “a minute of silence for the souls of the martyrs of the Palestinian people.”

In a related context, Egypt witnessed, for the second day in a row, angry demonstrations in several cities, including Fayoum, Damanhour and Egyptian universities such as Cairo and Damanhour, “in solidarity with Gaza, and in rejection of the Israeli bombing of the National Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, and the displacement of Palestinians and the liquidation of the Palestinian issue,” according to local media.

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