Maldivian youth to take to the streets in solidarity with Palestinians

The Maldivian youth community is to hold another mass rally in Maldives capital, Malé City, to show solidarity with Palestinians.

An initiative by Maldivian youth, the rally is slated for November 24.

Members of the general public have been urged to join the cause, from 4pm – 6pm at the Rasfannu Beach area on Friday, to raise their voices demanding a ceasefire in Israeli attacks against Palestenians.

The people are urged to join the rally in outfits and accessories that show the island nation’s solidarity with the people of Palestine.

This comes as part of a series of rallies being hosted by the youth community over the course of the past few weeks, demanding for a ceasefire and voicing against the continuous inhumane attacks by Israel on Gaza.

This comes at a time Maldives has introduced a legislative bill to ban Israeli passports. The petitions' committee of the People’s Majlis has since passed the petition seeking to ban Israeli entrants into the island nation. Although the petition was initially submitted with 1,000 signatures, the figure has surged  since.

During previous rallies, protestors urged parliamentarians to speed up the process to pass the bill and have urged to blacklist all government officials representing Israel, as well as to submit and pass a law making it illegal to support Zionism.

In the past, the International Aid Campaign (IAC) has also held rallies jointly with the group of youth who led the mass pro-Palestine rally held back in 2014 as well.

Alongside these protests, several fund-raising events have also been held across different regions of the country, in response to the heinous attacks by Israel on Gaza.

Evening rallies titled “Maldivians with Palestine” have also been held across several islands of outlying atolls, outside of the capital region.

Israeli armed forces have been carrying out unprovoked air strikes across Gaza since October 7. Israel declared war on Palestine after Hamas launched a mass military operation into the territory of Israel on October 7 in response to Israeli violation of the Al Aqsa Mosque. Attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers have since spiked and the death toll has exceeded the 11,000-mark.

According to international media, a speculative agreement was recently reached between Israel, the United States of America and Hamas to free hostages held in Gaza, in exchange for a five-day “pause” in the attacks.