Tunisia: Protestors commemorate Hamas leader’s 2016 murder
About 1,000 protesters, many of whom chanted “Free Palestine” gathered in Sfax, in east-central Tunisia, to mark the seventh anniversary of the assassination of Hamas leader Mohamed Zouari, Africa News reports.
Zouari, 59, was shot dead in the city on 15th December, 2016. Following his assassination, Tunisian authorities blamed foreign agents for the Engineer’s murder.
The coordinators of the protest presented the context of this year’s commemoration on 16th December. “Every year we commemorate the anniversary [of the assassination] of the martyr Mohamed Zouari, but on a limited scale. This year’s commemoration is special because it coincides with the flooding of al-Aqsa,” Mourad Ayedi told Africa News.
Read: Hamas chief incites Moroccans to protest against Israel deal
Hamas operations killed 1,140 people, mostly Israelis, on October 7. Since then, the Israeli military response has killed over 18,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The General Assembly of the United Nations voted in favour on 13th December, a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The result of the world body of 193 member countries saw 153 votes in favour, 10 against and 23 abstentions.
Eight countries, including the United States and Israel, Austria, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay, voted in opposition of the resolution.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a national address that the killings “broke my heart and broke the heart of the entire country,” but “We will continue until the end until Hamas is dissolved and all prisoners are returned,” he said.
In November, the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said Palestinians had been under heavy shelling by the Israeli army for a month, targeting “hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, mosques and UN facilities.”
Since the outbreak of war, violence by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank has reached record levels. Since 7th October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 287 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, – the deadliest year on record in the West Bank in 18 years, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Africa News / AFP
