Fresh wave of protests expected across Middle East

Gaza, Oct 20 (IANS) Fresh protests against Israel’s siege of Gaza are expected across much of the Middle East on Friday as aid agencies warned hospitals in the enclave are running out of fuel amid fears life-saving aid will be still stuck in Egypt for another day.

With the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deteriorating each hour, Israeli leaders have been rallying troops preparing for a potential ground incursion and on Friday morning they issued a mandatory evacuation order to some 23,000 residents living near the border with Lebanon, CNN reported.

Israeli warplanes’ relentless bombardment has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and sparked growing protests across the Middle East.

Egypt’s state-aligned political parties and institutions have called for nationwide protests in Egypt on Friday in support of Palestinians, a rare moment during a decade of strict anti-protest laws, CNN reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the risk of regional spillover from the Israel-Hamas war is “real”.

“We have seen the Arab streets fill with rage, all across the region... This is exactly what Hamas was hoping to achieve. And this can derail the recent and historic rapprochement between Israel and its Arab neighbours,” von der Leyen said during a speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

With anti-Israel protests rising across the Middle East there are fears other fronts could open up, particularly on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon where Hezbollah dominates and has increasingly clashed with Israel’s military over the last week.