Hundreds of protesters blockade New York center, demanding Gaza ceasefire

Reuters reported the information.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that hundreds of protesters demanding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas forced the closure of Grand Central Station, one of New York's main transportation hubs. 

"Grand Central Terminal is closed until further notice due to a protest," the authority said in a statement on its website, urging passengers to use alternative stations and plan extra travel time.

"Mourn the dead, and fight like hell for the living," reads one of the banners raised inside the building.

The protesters marched from the train station to 42nd Street in downtown Manhattan. The large crowd was detained by law enforcement officers.

The group Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized the demonstration, posted a video on Instagram showing police at the station escorting a long line of protesters wearing T-shirts with the words "Cease Fire Now" and "Not in Our Name" with their hands closed behind their backs

"Hundreds of Jews and allies are getting arrested in what is likely the biggest mass civil disobedience NYC has seen in two decades," the group said in a statement.

• In Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt and Iraq, thousands of people took to the streets in protest after an air strike on a hospital in Gaza. On October 18, at 03:53 am, several protesters stormed the UN office in Beirut and set it on fire.

• In the evening of October 18, protests were held in Turkey against the shelling of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. The protesters gathered near the Israeli embassy in Ankara and the consulate general in Istanbul.