The Palestinian offensive launched by Hamas against Israel has sparked a wave of solidarity across the Arab world, with social media ablaze with the buzzword “Al-Aqsa flood”, named after the unprecedented attack that killed hundreds, AFP reports.

In Lebanon, since the first moments of the surprise offensive launched on Saturday, residents have been handing out cookies in the streets and dancing in areas of Beirut and its southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Hezbollah movement, as well as in Palestinian refugee camps.

A student rally was also held in front of the American University of Beirut. “This is a fair cause and we always support them. If we can’t bear arms, we can at least support them,” said 18-year-old Palestinian Reem Sobh.

In the southern city of Saida, which borders Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, mosques offered prayers and chants in support of “Palestinian resistance fighters.”

“Resistance to the Oppressor”

In Damascus, the opera house was lit up in Palestinian colors and motorcades drove through the city waving Palestinian and Syrian flags and blasting through loudspeakers songs praising the “resistance”.

“I support the Palestinians because they are defending their rights. They have nothing left to lose,” says Mara Sleiman, a civil servant at Damascus University.

“Hamas’ offensive gave us back the feeling we had forgotten for years and gave us hope that one day we will be able to hold our heads high,” adds the 42-year-old woman.

The hashtags “Al-Aqsa flood,” “Palestine,” “Palestine is my cause” and “Gaza under bombardment” were top positions in most Arab countries on X (formerly Twitter).

“We follow the news on our screens. We can’t do anything but write messages of support for Gaza and all of Palestine,” Lebanese Darin Dandachli commented on X.

In an Instagram video, Lebanese comedian Shaden Fakih summed up the mood in his country, where positions on the Palestinian cause are generally divided: “I can be against Hamas and support armed resistance to the oppressor.”

“What do you expect from the Palestinians? Let them be killed every day and do nothing (…), let them die in silence?”, she lamented.

On national and pan-Arab channels, talk show hosts and guests vied with each other to support the Palestinian offensive.

In Ramallah, about a hundred Palestinians waved Hamas flags at a rally aimed at sending “a message (of support) to Gaza, a message of resistance, a message to the Palestinian people in the diaspora, a message to our nation and a message to the free peoples of the world,” demonstrator Hassan Youssef told AFP.

Even in Egypt, pro-regime talk show hosts, usually very hostile to Hamas, hailed “the resistance of an oppressed people” and “an insult to the theory of Israel’s invincibility.”

In the stadiums…

In the country, where demonstrations are banned, only a small parade took place on the grounds of the American University in Cairo.

As is often the case in Arab countries, solidarity with the Palestinians was expressed in stadiums. During a soccer match in Cairo, fans chanted: “With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine.”

In Tunisia, a demonstration “in support of the Palestinian resistance” is planned for Thursday, and on Monday students saluted the Palestinian flag in schools on the initiative of the Ministry of Education.

In Baghdad, Iraq, several groups held demonstrations of support, waving Palestinian flags.

Late Tuesday night, more than 4,000 people gathered in downtown Amman, Jordan, chanting “Come on, come on, Hamas” and “Revolution, revolution to death.”

Several Arab governments have announced their solidarity with the Palestinians, while the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two Gulf states that have normalized relations with Israel, have stood out in condemning the Israeli civilian hostage-taking.

Despite this, dozens of Bahrainis demonstrate almost daily in support of the Hamas offensive, covering their faces with the Palestinian kufi for men or the niqab for women to avoid being harassed by the authorities. (AFP)