Tehran, IRNA – Millions of Iranians have poured into the streets across the country on the last Friday of Ramadan to mark International Quds Day, expressing unwavering support for the Palestinian people and denouncing the ongoing Israeli regime’s atrocities in Gaza.

The mass demonstrations hold profound significance this year as the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip enters its 28th month. Since the onset of the latest Israeli aggression on October 7, 2023, over 72,000 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, have been martyred, with the death toll rising daily as the regime continues to block vital humanitarian aid.

This year’s rallies are especially important for Iranians because the Israeli regime and the United states have been attacking Iran and pounding military and civilian areas since February 28. They started the unprovoked war of aggression with the assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Martyr Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in Tehran and massacring 168 people, including schoolchildren in Minab, Bandar Abbas, southern Iran. 

In Tehran, the capital of Iran, protesters flooded designated rally routes carrying pictures of the newly appointed leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, and Martyr Seyyed Ali Khamanei, and the Iranian flag, as well as Palestinian flags and placards reading “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Demonstrators chanted slogans calling for the liberation of the Holy Quds and condemned the silence of Western governments complicit in the war crimes.

Similar rallies were reported in other Iranian cities, including Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, and Tabriz. Beyond Iran’s borders, Quds Day marches also took place in various countries across the region and the world, including Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan, and Bahrain, as well as in European and American cities, reflecting the global solidarity with Palestine.

This year’s Quds Day serves as a powerful reminder that despite decades of occupation and the current brutal war, the Palestinian cause remains the foremost issue of the Muslim world.