Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

Photo EssayIn photos: The world reacts to shocking onset of Israel-Gaza war

Protests in New York City, Israeli flags in Ukraine and extra security at synagogues — this is how the world reacted to the weekend’s stunning violence

Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas was the single deadliest attack in Israel in half a century.

Not since the Yom Kippur War, 50 years ago this weekend, has Israel witnessed such massive carnage. “But there is a big difference,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “That was a conventional war between countries, between armies. This, a massive terrorist attack on Israeli civilians.”

More than 1,100 people have died so far – roughly 700 Israelis and 400 Palestinians – in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned may be a “long and difficult war.”

Sunday brought with it vivid images of how people are responding to the conflict across the globe.

1 / 8

Supporters of Israel faced people rallying in support of Palestinians in New York's Times Square on Sunday. Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP for Getty Images

Supporters of Israel faced people rallying in support of Palestinians in New York’s Times Square on Sunday.

2 / 8

Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in New York’s Times Square on Sunday.

3 / 8

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Demonstrators stood outside the White House on Sunday as crowds rallied in support of Palestinians after the Gaza-based militant group Hamas launched a Saturday assault on Israel.

4 / 8

Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N., spoke to reporters Sunday before an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in response to the outbreak of war.

5 / 8

Israeli national flags are seen on giant screens on a street in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on October 8, 2023. Photo by SERGEI CHUZAVKOV/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli national flags were displayed on giant screens on a street in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Sunday.

6 / 8

The Israeli flag was projected onto the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin as a show of solidarity. Photo by Fabian Sommer/dpa via Getty Images

The Israeli flag was projected onto Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in a show of solidarity.

7 / 8

Photo by DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images

A security guard stands outside the front door of Congregation Machzikei Hadas, an Orthodox synagogue in Ottawa, Canada, during Simchat Torah on Sunday.

8 / 8

Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

A French police officer patrols outside the Tournelles Synagogue Sunday, after increased security measures were put in place at synagogues and Jewish schools in Paris. One local Jewish leader expressed concern at the possibility the conflict might be imported there.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version