100s rally in Gaza over ISIL raid on Syria's Yarmuk camp

Hundreds of Palestinian protesters stage a rally in the besieged Gaza Strip to voice concern over the fate of thousands of Palestinians trapped in Syria's Yarmuk camp after it was overrun by foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists.

The protesters, many waving Hamas flags, took to the streets of the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Saturday in a protest march organized by the Islamic resistance movement, which administers the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave.

"We say it for the thousandth time: hands off the Yarmuk camp, hands off our people, hands off the slaughtered, killed, and starved," senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil told the crowd.

He further called on the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to use its leverage to resolve the situation.

"Your role today is...to exert your pressure in order to find a way out for those besieged," he stated.

Moreover, senior West Bank-based Palestinian Authority official and negotiator Saeb Erakat decried in a statement "the persecution and slaughtering of Palestinian refugees... in a conflict that isn't theirs."

"Reports of kidnappings, beheadings, and mass killings are coming out from Yarmuk, which is under a brutal campaign of murder and occupation at the hands of the terrorist group of Daesh and its allies," Erakat stated, referring to the ISIL terrorists.

"We call upon the United Nations and other involved organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as the Syrian government to take all necessary measures to immediately evacuate civilians. Time is quickly running out."

The ISIL militants launched an attack on the camp on April 1 and are reportedly cooperating with rival terrorists from the al-Nusra Front, despite clashes with it elsewhere in Syria.

The UN says nearly 18,000 civilians, including a large number of children, are caught in Yarmouk.

Yarmouk, once hosting tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees as well as Syrians, has turned into a ghost town as a result of violent attacks by anti-government militants over the past four years of turmoil in Syria.

ISIL was in control of the camp until 2014, when a deal with the government led to withdrawal of the terrorists. The Syrian army has since then besieged the camp as it has turned into a major bastion for spreading anti-government militancy by al-Qaeda-linked groups.

Activists said on Saturday that Palestinian forces have started a counteroffensive in a bid to force Takfiri militants from the camp.

The violence fueled by Takfiri groups, including ISIL, in Syria has claimed the lives of over 215,000 people since March 2011, according to reports.

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