Hundreds of cities across world expected to rally for Rafah

Hundreds of cities around the world are expected to see demonstrations in support of Rafah on Saturday, about one week ahead of a deadline for an Israeli invasion of the city in the south of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of desperate people have taken refuge.

Described as a Global Day of Action by organisers, the demonstrations called "Hands Off Rafah" are being put together by a coalition of hundreds of rights groups from a diversity of backgrounds.

"Millions of people around the world will be marching for Gaza, especially Rafah," Sabina Wildman, a San Francisco-based organiser with the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), a protest umbrella group, told The New Arab. 

She added that due to the urgency of the situation in Rafah, they would be marching rain or shine, with weather forecasts in major US cities showing a high chance of rainstorms for Saturday.

"Right now, Gaza is facing a famine. There's a pending ground invasion, which is a big reason for the timing of the demonstrations," she said. "We think it's the time when we have to put pressure on the US and Israel. We need to show our strength for an end to the siege on Gaza."

Israel has set a deadline for the beginning of Ramadan for an invasion of Rafah, if the remaining hostages are not freed by the beginning of the holiday, which starts on 10 April.

The city of 300,000, which has swelled to more than 1.5 million with its internally displaced population, has become a refuge for Gazans from other parts of enclave ever since Israel began its bombing campaign following the 7 October Hamas attack of Israel, in which around 250 people in Israel were taken hostage and around 1,200 were killed.

Since then, Israel has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza and has wounded around 70,000, most of them civilians, in what many have called a disproportionate response and collective punishment of Palestinians by Israel. Multiple human rights groups have described Israel's actions as genocide.

"The political urgency is so big now with the impending invasion of Rafah," Walter Smolarek, media coordinator with the ANSWER Coalition, told TNA. 

"The political elites are feeling the pressure. While we haven't seen a change in US policy, we may very well be approaching the breaking point with the pressure becoming too great on the administration."