Jordan mourns victims of Baptist Hospital massacre in Gaza Strip

AMMAN — A shroud of mourning descended upon Amman as the city came together to lament the Baptist Hospital massacre that occurred on Tuesday. The streets were draped in black, and Wednesday, marked by closed shops, was unlike any other. 

Over 500 people were killed, the majority of whom were children, in the Israeli air strike on the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.

Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh declared a three-day period of public mourning in the Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Flags are flying half-mast at ministries, institutions and public departments.

Many protests and sit-ins have taken place across the nation with the most prominent sit-in staged in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman. Protesters near the Israeli embassy called on the authorities to expel Israeli diplomats from Jordan.

Many schools, gyms, shops, and factories have closed in mourning over the death of innocent lives in Gaza. Many citizens also donned black attire as a sign of mourning.

“The act of bombing a hospital is beyond comprehension, despite Israeli claims that they asked Gazans to evacuate the hospital. How does it make sense to evacuate a hospital? People are critically ill at the hospital; they can’t move,” Aziza Qamhawi, a protester, told The Jordan Times.

In a display of solidarity with Gaza, a group of private schools in the capital chose to suspend or end their school day prematurely on Wednesday. 

“Young students, many too young to fully comprehend the gravity of the situation, were demonstrating an inspiring sense of empathy,” Nancy Mabrouk, a schoolteacher, told The Jordan Times. 

Near the professional unions complex in Shmeisani, hundreds of thousands of union members gathered to protest and expressed their outrage against the hospital massacre in Gaza. 

Arwa Shami, one of the protesters, told The Jordan Times that they stood together not only to grieve but also to express unwavering solidarity with the people of Gaza, who were enduring unimaginable suffering.

Simultaneously, another protest unfolded in downtown Amman, demonstrating support for the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza. 

“The Israeli forces’ aggression was tearing apart the very fabric of the region, and the people of Amman could not remain silent,” Ahmad Bakawi, a Jordanian, told The Jordan Times. 

The Jewellery Shops Owners Association declared a three-day mourning for the victims of Israeli atrocities in Gaza.

“Amman is draped in black, and Jordanians stand united in their grief and rage,” a source at the association told The Jordan Times.