Hamas ‘Day of Rage’ as Hundreds March Towards Israel’s Border

Hundreds of protesters brandishing Palestinian flags have been dispersed while trying to march on Jordan’s border with Israel, after Hamas called on supporters worldwide to attack Israelis and Jews in a “Day of Rage.”

Earlier in the day, footage showed demonstrators marching down a street while chanting “Allahu akbar”—”God is great”—purportedly responding to the call for violence as Israel appears to be gearing up for a mass assault on Gaza following attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants at the weekend.

On Thursday, Jordan’s Interior Ministry banned pro-Palestinian protests in border regions, writing in a statement that “the Jordanian armed forces are responsible for their protection and maintaining security therein.”

Footage obtained by Israeli news channel i24 on Friday morning shows Jordanian forces near the border using tear gas to repel the demonstrators while sirens blare.

Witnesses told Reuters that police had halted around 500 demonstrators who had reached a security checkpoint outside the Jordanian capital of Amman, on a highway leading to a main border crossing into the West Bank.

Newsweek approached the Jordanian Ministry of Interior via email for comment on Friday.

Elsewhere, Jordanian police were seen handing out water to a gathering of pro-Palestinian protestors, while the nation’s government has sent aid to Gaza via Egypt.

The Kingdom of Jordan lost the West Bank as a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, but signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 officially ceding sovereignty over the territory. Since then, the two nations have largely shared close diplomatic and economic ties.

On Thursday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Council had warned that the call from Hamas was likely to spark “protest events in various countries that are liable to turn violent,” in a joint-statement. It told Israelis abroad to stay alert and away from the protest sites.

The protests, linked to what Israel described as a “Day of Rage,” follow reports of Hamas calling for a “Day of Jihad” around the world on Friday. Khaled Mashaal, who now heads the group’s diaspora office in Qatar, told Reuters on Wednesday that Muslims should “head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world” to show support for Palestine.

A peaceful pro-Palestinian protest takes place in Amman, Jordan on October 13, 2023. Earlier in the week, Hamas called for Muslims across the world to gather in a “Day of Rage.” Public Security of Jordan

Jihad is commonly translated to mean “struggle,” and can refer to both an individual’s struggle to be a good Muslim, as well as armed struggle.

On Friday morning, a teacher was stabbed to death and two other people injured at a secondary school in the town of Arras in France, sparking a terror investigation. While a police office on the scene told the Associated Press (AP) that the suspect had shouted “Allahu akbar,” it remains unclear if the attack was linked to Hamas’ call.

“A police operation took place at the Gambetta High School,” Gerald Darmanin, the French Interior Minister, confirmed shortly after the attack. “The perpetrator was arrested by the police.”

The call from Hamas came as the Israeli Air Force continues to conduct intensive air strikes on targets in Gaza, following an armed assault on Israeli border communities by around 1,500 militants on Saturday. The violence has so far claimed at least 2,800 lives on both sides, according to the latest AP figures.

On Friday morning, Israel’s military confirmed that residents in Gaza City had been told to leave their homes and head south of the Gaza River, in a sign that it is preparing for a large-scale offensive, describing it as “for your own safety and the safety of your families.”

A U.N. spokesperson said the previous evening that Israel had notified it that the Israeli military was giving around 1.1 million civilians—around half the population of Gaza—24 hours to evacuate to safety.

In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday morning, King Adbullah II of Jordan expressed his support for the opening of a humanitarian corridor out of Gaza—something Egypt, which shares a border with the Palestinian exclave, has so far denied.