Palestinians protest Blinken’s visit amid Israeli war on Gaza

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Scores of Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday against a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Protesters waved banners and chanted slogans decrying US support for a deadly Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip, according to an Anadolu reporter on the ground.

Demonstrators attempted to reach the Palestinian Authority headquarters where Blinken is meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas, but were prevented by security forces.

“We demonstrate today in protest of Blinken’s visit to Ramallah,” Hisham Abu Ria, a protester, told Anadolu.

"We reject Blinken's visit, whose administration leads the war against our people by providing US troops and military and political support” to Israel, he added.

“We ask the Palestinian Authority, why is this criminal (Blinken) being hosted? He should be boycotted.”

Blinken arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday as part of a regional tour that started with Türkiye for talks on the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has pounded the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 23,357 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 59,410 others, according to local health authorities.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas offensive.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio