KARACHI: Hundreds of doctors and paramedics marched in commercial capital Karachi on Sunday to pay tribute to their Palestinian counterparts who have been performing their duties despite intensified Israeli airstrikes and bombings of hospitals in Gaza.
Donned in white medical coats and waving tri-color Palestinian flags, the protesters gathered outside Agha Khan Hospital in the city’s eastern district to join the rally.
Many of the participants were sporting keffiyeh scarves, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.
Billed as the “White Coat March,” the rally was the latest in a string of pro-Palestine marches across Pakistan since Oct. 7.
Raising slogans such as “Free free Palestine,” “Labbaik ya Gaza (Gaza we are here)”, and “Down with Israel,” the protesters marched on the Stadium Road.
Addressing the march, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, the Karachi chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s mainstream religiopolitical party, denounced the US for vetoing the UN Security Council’s cease-fire resolution, which, he said, is tantamount to giving Israel “another license to kill” Palestinians.
Paying tribute to the Palestinian doctors and paramedics, he said Israeli forces on the one hand are killing unarmed Palestinians, including children and women, and on the other, they are deliberately targeting medical facilities to ensure “more and more deaths.”
Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with Hamas.
At least 17,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 48,780 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following the cross-border attack by Hamas.
The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.
