Tens of thousands of people have poured onto the streets around the world in support of the Palestinians as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Protesters denounced Israel’s heavy bombardment of the besieged enclave that has so far killed more than 1,500 people and it came after an unprecedented attack by Hamas, the group running Gaza, killed more than 1,300 people in Israel.

In Baghdad, large crowds filled Tahrir Square in the centre of the Iraqi capital for protests called by the influential Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

In Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, demonstrators took to the streets waving Yemeni and Palestinian flags.

After prayers in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, some worshippers stepped on US and Israeli flags, in a sign of disrespect.

Some 1,000 Muslims rallied in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after Friday prayers to show solidarity with the Palestinians. Chanting “Free Palestine” and “Crush the Zionists”, they burned two effigies draped with Israeli flags.

Islamic leaders in Indonesia appealed to all mosques in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation to pray for peace and safety for the Palestinian people.

The chairman of the Indonesian Mosque Council had urged all mosques to perform the Qunut Nazilahto prayer, one made for protection, to ask for God’s help so that “the conflict in the Gaza Strip would end quickly”.