The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has called for an escalation of global action in the first three days of August to protest Israel’s ongoing genocide and starvation policy in Gaza.
“We call for stepping up worldwide mobilisation on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (August 1-3), and in the days ahead, against the continuation of Zionist aggression, genocide, and starvation in Gaza,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hamas urged that Sunday, August 3, be marked as a “Global Day of Support for Gaza, Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Palestinian prisoners,” dedicating it to its former leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated by Israel in Tehran on July 31, 2024.
It recalled that on July 29, 2024, Haniyeh himself had called for August 3 that year to be a day of global solidarity with Gaza.
The group called for sustained worldwide demonstrations “in cities and capitals across the globe, through mass marches and protests, against the ongoing Zionist aggression, genocide, and systematic starvation targeting over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.”
It also urged “escalating all forms of protests and sit-ins in front of Zionist and American embassies, as well as embassies of countries supporting the occupation, everywhere in the world, until the aggression and starvation against children, women, patients, and innocent civilians in Gaza come to an end.”
'Concealing genocide'
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Government Media Office has accused Israel of deliberately preventing international journalists from entering the besieged enclave to conceal the ongoing genocide and starvation in the territory.
“Israeli occupation authorities continue to promote false claims denying the existence of famine in Gaza, while banning the entry of the international press for fear of exposing undeniable realities to the cameras,” the office said in a statement.
It challenged Israel to open the crossings and allow foreign correspondents to enter the blockaded territory.
The statement came a day after US President Donald Trump acknowledged in a press briefing the existence of famine in Gaza, citing images of starving children, a position that directly contradicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated denials of the crisis.
The media office described Israel’s refusal to permit international coverage as a “full-fledged crime aimed at erasing evidence of the systematic genocide and starvation inflicted on our people in Gaza.”
It urged the international community to take “a firm stance to expose the facts and break the media blockade imposed on Gaza.”
