ISLAMABAD: Pakistani nation observed “Palestine Day” on Friday to express solidarity with the people of Palestine, who have been braving a massacre at the hands of Israel.
Protest rallies have been taken out in different cities after Friday prayers condemning Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Israel has been pounding Gaza with air strikes, killing more than 250 men, women and children since tensions heightened following the Sheikh Jarrah evictions and Israeli police brutality at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Pakistan has raised its voice against Israeli aggression at the United Nations, with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi saying that the voice of the Palestinians cannot and will not be silenced.
Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed officials to make preparations for holding state-level protests against the Israeli atrocities on Friday.
The PM had issued the orders during a meeting he chaired of government spokespersons. The aides of the PM had advised him to hold such a demonstration on Friday.
A highly anticipated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that runs the Palestinian Gaza Strip officially came into force early Friday at 2:00am (2300GMT Thursday).
Only celebratory gunfire was heard on Gaza streets, AFP journalists said as truce came into effect three hours after the decision was made by Netanyahu’s cabinet.
Earlier, Israel had announced a ceasefire to bring to a close an 11-day military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli strikes on Gaza since May 10 have killed 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, as well as fighters, and have wounded another 1,900, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Vast areas have been reduced to rubble and about 120,000 people have been displaced, according to Hamas authorities.
The Israeli army says Hamas and other Islamist armed groups in Gaza have fired more than 4,300 rockets towards Israel over the course of the conflict, but the overwhelming majority of those headed for populated areas were intercepted by its Iron Dome air defences.
The rockets claimed 12 lives in Israel, including two children and an Israeli soldier, with one Indian and two Thai nationals among those killed, the police say.
The conflict escalated after Hamas fired rockets towards Jerusalem after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Read more: Mission Palestine: FM Qureshi urges Muslim world to adopt united stance at UN
