As the UN marked International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, demonstrators in several cities across Europe took to the streets Saturday as the Palestinian death toll in Israel’s brutal war in Gaza rose to more than 70,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday said “the killing of so many civilians, the repeated displacement of an entire population and the obstruction of humanitarian aid should never be acceptable.”
Guterres called for an end to the violence amid a fragile US-brokered ceasefire.
“The October ceasefire agreement offers glimmers of hope. And the adoption of the resolution on Gaza by the Security Council is an important step in its consolidation,” he added in a statement.
Palestinian solidarity protests were held in several European cities, including Paris, London, Geneva, Rome and Lisbon.
In Paris, a crowd – estimated at 50,000 by organisers and 8,400 by the police – marched from Place de la République to Place de la Nation, chanting “Gaza, Gaza, Paris is with you”, and waving Palestinian flags and signs reading, “Palestine: we will not be silenced” and “Gaza: silence, people are being killed. Stop the genocide.”
Several left-wing politicians, including France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, joined the march.
Seven weeks after a ceasefire took effect on October 10, “nothing has been resolved”, said Anne Tuaillon, head of the France Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS), one of about 80 NGOs, unions and parties behind the protest call.
“The ceasefire is a smokescreen. Israel violates it every day, blocks humanitarian aid and continues to destroy homes and infrastructure in Gaza. We are calling for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the genocide,” she told AFP.
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Under the US-brokered truce, Israeli forces have pulled back behind a so-called “yellow line” inside the Gaza Strip. But the pause in the fighting remains fragile, with both sides accusing each other of daily breaches.
‘We need sanctions’
“We need sanctions. It’s the only way to make Israel respect international law,” Tuaillon said, condemning what she called an “unprecedented acceleration” of settlement expansion in the West Bank and record levels of settler violence.
Saleha, 72, wearing a beret and draped in a Palestinian flag, said she came to march against the “genocide” in Gaza.
“All of humanity is watching and can do nothing. It’s total impunity,” she said. “It’s shocking to see this and be unable to act. The only thing we can do is mobilise.”
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Bertrand, a 42-year-old IT technician who declined to give his full name, said “the massacre continues”, citing videos circulating online of two men shot dead Thursday during a joint Israeli police-army raid in Jenin. The UN has called for an investigation into what it described as an “apparent summary execution”.
Without economic sanctions, “pressure in the streets and through elected officials” must continue, he added.
Three people were arrested, Paris police said, without giving details.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)