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Hundreds of Egypt's media professionals and activists protested on Monday evening, 15 January, outside the headquarters of the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate in downtown Cairo against the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.

The protesters, joined by syndicate head and independent journalist Khaled El-Balashy, along with other board members, raised banners and chanted anti-Israel slogans. They called for prosecuting Israeli war criminals, opening the Rafah border crossing indefinitely for relief efforts and humanitarian aid and ending the Israeli ongoing war on the besieged strip that has exceeded 100 days so far.

The journalists, mostly Egyptian, further hailed the case filed by South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.Ìý

Balashy hailed what he described as "the heroic efforts exerted by Palestinian journalists" as they covered Israel's attacks on Gaza since 7 October.

"We have been facing the most horrific crimes committed against our profession in the modern age. We have witnessed over the past 100 days 107 martyred journalists, an average of over one daily…[who] sacrificed their lives in defense of the truth," Balashy said.

A day later, on Tuesday, Palestinian Al-Jazeera bureau chief Wael Dahdouh arrived in Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, almost one week after the Egyptian Journalists' SyndicateÌý him "the Freedom of Press Award" as a symbolic tribute to the Palestinian colleagues risking their lives in Gaza.

Dahdouh had lost most of his family members, including his wife and son, in Israeli attacks in recent weeks.Ìý