Protesters rally in Beirut in solidarity with Gaza Palestinians
Several thousand people took part in a rally in central Beirut on Sunday in support of Palestinians in Gaza, with organisers urging Arab countries to end efforts to normalise ties with Israel and calling on Syria to join the war.
The rally was jointly organised by the Palestinian group Hamas which controls Gaza and by the Lebanese Sunni Islamist Jama'a Islamiya, a group inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood, took place near Martyrs Square.
Protesters waved Palestinian flags and the flags of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, at the rally, which came as Israeli forces expanded their ground operations in Gaza, part of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the second phase of a three-week old war.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"Stop the Gaza Genocide," read one banner.
![Collage shows [from left] shows the woman rushing to her house with the cat after, getting into the lift and the cat that was beaten. Collage: TBS](https://tbsnews.net/sites/default/files/styles/medium_2/public/images/2025/05/13/gp_official_beat_cat_basundhara_2.jpg)
