Iran’s Basij volunteer forces hold nationwide rallies in solidarity with Gaza

Iran’s Basij volunteer forces have held nationwide rallies across the country, with the popular force bringing some 50,000 of its members to the streets in the capital Tehran to voice their solidarity with the Palestinians in the face of the Israeli regime’s brutal onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.

The demonstrations, dubbed “March towards al-Quds”, were staged on the occasion of the National Basij Week in Iran on Friday, which coincided with first day of a provisional truce that put a halt on nearly 50 days of Israeli aggression on Gaza.

The Basij forces in Tehran marched along the city’s iconic Enghelab (Revolution) Street towards the University of Tehran where Friday prayers are held.

Holding Palestinian flags and resistance movements, the participants expressed their unwavering support for the Palestinian people in Gaza and censured the occupation regime’s genocide in the besieged territory.

A number of demonstrators also held in their arms the shrouded bodies of Palestinian infants in a symbolic move in commemoration of thousands of innocent children who lost their lives in the Israeli war on Gaza.

Some protesters carried mock bodies of Palestinian children wrapped in shrouds as a symbolic gesture to honor the thousands of innocent lives lost in the Israeli war on Gaza.

Iran’s major cities were also the scene of similar parades in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm in response to Tel Aviv's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

The Government Media Office in Gaza announced in a report on Thursday that at least 14,854 Palestinians, including more than 6,150 children and 4,000 women, have been killed and over 36,000 others injured in the Israeli strikes.

Some 207 health workers and 65 Palestinians were among those killed. That’s while 7,000 Palestinians are still missing.

According to the report, 60 percent of homes in Gaza have either been destroyed or damaged due to the aggression.

The Qatari-mediated truce took effect earlier on Friday, which would see the exchange of captives and the delivery of relief aid to the Gaza Strip over a span of four days.

Under the terms of the agreement, for every Israeli captive released, there will be three Palestinian prisoners released, namely women and children. Two hundred aid trucks that include medical supplies for the entire Gaza Strip will also be allowed in during the four-day ceasefire.

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