‘Waqt-e-Dua hai’: Babar Azam comes out in support of Palestinians

With the death toll mounted to at least 12,000 Palestinians so far— including 5,000 children — amid Israel’s unabating bombardment and ground incursion in Gaza, Pakistan former skipper Babar Azam on Friday came out in support of the people in the besieged enclave.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Pakistan’s premium batter shared a picture of the girl in which she is seen holding the Palestinian flag and having a doll placed on her lap. He also wrote a piece of poetry in the caption of the post.

Last month, Rizwan dedicated his match-winning against Sri Lanka to the people of Gaza during the ICC World Cup 2023.

Rizwan tweeted on 11th October, a day after his knock of 131 (not out) in the highest run chase ever in Cricket World Cup history. The tweet was, “This was for our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Happy to contribute in the win. Credits to the whole team and especially Abdullah Shafique and Hassan Ali for making it easier," he wrote.

"Extremely grateful to the people of Hyderabad for the amazing hospitality and support throughout," he added.

PCB had asked wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan to delete his social media post in which he dedicated the team’s historic win against Sri Lanka to the Palestinians facing genocide by Israel.

However, when contacted, a spokesperson for the Pakistan Cricket Board said, “The International Cricket Council and the PCB’s legal department are relevant here as I am not privy to this information”.

With the Israeli aggression on Gaza entering day 42 today, almost 12,000 Palestinians — including nearly 5,000 children — have lost their lives in unabating bombardment and airstrikes in residential areas, even on hospitals, in the besieged enclave.

During the past 48 hours, 24 patients have died at Al Shifa hospital owing to power cuts, as Israeli forces searched the facility, which they claimed, for Hamas hideouts.

According to the reports, the Israeli troops were operating in northern Gaza.

Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that their forces had cut the strip in two.