Children, women among 200 killed, over 1600 wounded as Israeli warplanes bombard Gaza

According to a report, American multinational technology conglomerate Meta is restricting the use of the upside-down red triangle emoji, which has become a broader symbol of Palestinian resistance.

Meta is restricting the emoji on its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms, The Intercept reported on Thursday after reviewing internal content moderation materials.

Since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the resistance movement Hamas has regularly released footage of its successful strikes on Israeli military positions with red triangles superimposed above targeted soldiers and armor, the report said.

The use of the red triangle emoji has expanded online since October last year, becoming a widely used icon for people expressing their sentiments in favor of Palestine and against Israel.

Social media users use the emoji in their posts, usernames, and profiles as a badge of solidarity and protest against Israel’s crime against Palestinians.  

The symbol has become so popular that the Israeli military has used it in its own propaganda.

In November, an Israeli military video that warned “Our triangle is stronger than yours, Abu Obeida,” addressing Hamas’s spokesperson, Al Jazeera reported.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has determined that the upside-down triangle emoji is a proxy for support for Hamas, according to internal policy guidelines obtained by The Intercept.

Meta is deleting the triangle that may be followed by further disciplinary action from the company depending on how severely it assesses its use.

According to the policy materials, the ban covers contexts in which Meta decides a “user is clearly posting about the conflict and it is reasonable to read the red triangle as a proxy for Hamas and it is being used to glorify, support or represent Hamas’s violence.”

Israel has killed at least 41,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. In Lebanon, the death toll has risen to more than 1,840 with 8,400 wounded.

The Israeli war machine ignited its genocidal campaign by targeting helpless Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip in October.

It was after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas conducted surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against the Palestinians.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warns Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the dire consequences of the Israeli regime’s ongoing deadly aggression against the regional countries.

“The Israeli regime is dragging the entire region into a catastrophe,” the top diplomat told the Saudi royal in the Arab country’s capital Riyadh on Wednesday.

Araghchi was referring to the regime’s October 7, 2023-present genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has so far killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, as well as its escalated attacks on Lebanon, which have claimed thousands of other lives.

“Insight, wisdom, courage, and cooperation are what the region needs to overcome this challenging time,” he added.

Araghchi said he had held “very important” discussions with bin Salman concerning “vital issues of common concern.”

He also commented on an earlier meeting with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, noting that the countries would always be bonded as a result of geographical contiguity and stay each other’s brothers through faith.

“Together, the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia can award the region with security and stability,” he said, adding, “This requires a higher level of political will.”

“I am glad to have taken the first steps down a long path alongside my Saudi counterpart today.”

Araghchi left Tehran for the kingdom on Wednesday on a regional tour that took him to the Qatari capital of Doha next.

He had visited Lebanon’s capital Beirut on October 4 as part of a two-day tour, holding talks with Lebanese officials before visiting the Syrian capital of Damascus the following day to meet with Syrian leaders.

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has confirmed the assassination of its secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in massive Israeli airstrikes targeting residential buildings in southern Beirut on Friday.

“His Eminence, the Master of Resistance, the righteous servant, has joined his Lord and His pleasure as a great martyr — an outstanding, courageous, wise, and insightful leader — joining the ranks of the radiant martyrs of Karbala in the divine journey of faith, following in the footsteps of the prophets and martyr imams,” Hezbollah said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.

“The leadership of Hezbollah vows to the highest, most sacred, and dearest martyr in our journey, filled with sacrifices and martyrs, to continue its struggle against the enemy, supporting Gaza and Palestine, and defending Lebanon and its steadfast, honorable people,” it added.

Since Friday afternoon, Israeli warplanes have conducted over 30 airstrikes, targeting residential buildings in Burj al-Barajneh, Kafaat, Choueifat, Hadath, al-Laylaki, and Mreijeh, with local media reporting upwards of 300 casualties as a result of the aggression.

Footage broadcast by al-Manar television channel from the crowded area of Beirut’s Dahiyeh shows flattened buildings, streets filled with rubble and clouds of smoke and dust above the area.

Martyrs’ Square, Beirut’s central public area, was crowded with exhausted and anxious families sheltering outdoors.

The recent attacks are part of the Israeli regime’s intensified assault on Lebanon, which has become more deadly this week, resulting in over 700 deaths nationwide since Monday.

The new attacks came less than a week after the Tel Aviv regime killed 38 people, including three children and seven women as well as senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil in an attack on a residential building in a southern Beirut suburb.

Earlier on Saturday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the brutal attacks by the “rabid Zionist dog” on Lebanon revealed the shortsightedness and foolish policies of Israeli officials, calling on all Muslims to unite behind Lebanese people and Hezbollah.

“The Zionist criminals need to know that they are far too weak to be able to inflict any significant damage on the solid structure of Lebanon’s Hezbollah. All the resistance forces in the region stand with and support Hezbollah,” the Leader said in a statement on Saturday.

“The Lebanese have not forgotten that there was a time when the soldiers of the occupying regime were advancing toward Beirut, and Hezbollah stopped them, and made Lebanon proud. Today too, by the grace and power of God, Lebanon will make the transgressing, malicious enemy regret its actions,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted.