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
A supporter of Israel draped in an Israeli flag in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. Photo by Getty Images
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
By Benyamin Cohen October 8, 2023
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 Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
