Ankara, Turkey, 22 June 2024 (Anadolu News)
The streets of Tokyo on Saturday saw the carnage from an apparent massacre, with the bodies of dozens of victims strewn across the ground, their bodies lying prone or twisted, many of them marked by the signs of blood.
But it was instead a “die-in,” a scene to evoke the suffering in the embattled enclave of Gaza, recreated half a world away to protest the plight of Palestinians in the face of a months-long Israeli assault.
Many videos and pictures of the event in Japan's capital were posted on X, showing groups of protesters lying on the ground, while others, some of them carrying Palestinian flags, encircled them.
Another post showed a protester shrouded in an apparently blood-stained white sheet lying on the ground, reflecting the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.
"Gaza needs your help. Protesters (are) lying on the ground as if they were dead in front of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to raise awareness of the devastating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," wrote Thoton Akimoto, a peace activist.
The event also tried to show catastrophic conditions in hospitals following Israeli attacks on health care facilities in the enclave, something the world has witnessed multiple times in recent months, though it is banned under the laws of war.
"The Gaza Street Hospital 6/22 South Exit of Shinjuku Station. An attempt is being made to recreate the brutal conditions in Gaza hospitals that the media does not report," wrote a peace activist on X with the handle @musabianpo.
Shinjuku Station is a major railway hub connecting different parts of the capital.
Over 37,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip since last October, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said on Saturday.
Nearly 86,000 people have also been injured in the onslaught, most of them – like those killed – women and children.
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicines.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
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Death, destruction, refugeehood, humanitarian crises – those are the things we're used to accepting as part of the reality of war… But in Gaza, I also saw the death of the human soul" - former CNN war reporter Arwa Damon to Shany Littman
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