Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war

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Moroccans chant slogans and wave the Palestinian flag during a march to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Rabat on July 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Moroccans chant slogans and wave the Palestinian flag during a march to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Rabat on July 19, 2025. (AFP)
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A Moroccan waves the Palestinian flag during a march to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Rabat on July 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 21 July 2025
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Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war

  • Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalization deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the North African kingdom as the war in Gaza rages into its 22nd month

RABAT: Tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrated Sunday in the capital Rabat against the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for the reversal of the kingdom’s normalization deal with Israel.
Protesters gathered in the city center, brandishing Palestinian flags and placards calling for the free flow of aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
“It’s a disgrace, Gaza is under fire,” “Lift the blockade,” “Morocco, Palestine, one people” and “no to normalization,” chanted the demonstrators.
They had gathered at the call of various organizations, including a coalition bringing together the Islamist movement Al-Adl Wal-Ihssane and left-wing parties.




Moroccans wave Palestinian flags during a march to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Rabat on July 19, 2025. (AFP)

The war in Gaza, sparked by militant group Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people who live in the coastal territory.
Most people have been displaced at least once by the fighting, and doctors and aid agencies say they were seeing the physical and mental health effects of 21 months of war, including more acute malnutrition.
“Palestinians are being starved and killed before the eyes of the whole world,” said Jamal Behar, one of the demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday.
“It is our duty to denounce this dramatic, unbearable situation.”
Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalization deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the North African kingdom as the war in Gaza rages into its 22nd month.
 

 


UN chief expresses deep concern over escalating Iran-US tensions

Updated 21 February 2026
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UN chief expresses deep concern over escalating Iran-US tensions

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for diplomatic engagement to resolve differences between the United States and Iran amid a surge in military activities and rhetoric across the Middle East, his spokesperson said on Friday.

“We are very concerned about the heightened rhetoric we’re seeing around the region by the heightened military activities, war games or just military, increased military, naval presence in the region. And we encourage both the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue to engage in diplomacy in order to settle the differences,” said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN secretary-general.

The call for restraint follows a formal letter delivered on Thursday by Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council. Iravani emphasized that Iran is prepared to exercise its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, promising a decisive and proportionate response to any military aggression.

Iravani further warned that in such a scenario, all bases, facilities, and assets belonging to hostile forces in the Middle East would constitute legitimate targets for Iranian defensive measures. The envoy added that the United States would bear full and direct responsibility for any unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences resulting from further provocations.