Protests Erupt Across the Globe Urging Ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as Conflict Reaches 1-Year Mark

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With the conflict in Gaza marking its one-year anniversary, thousands of protesters across the globe have been calling for an immediate ceasefire

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched across the globe this weekend, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the Middle East conflict approached its first anniversary.

Supporters gathered in cities across Europe, Africa, and the Americas, including Paris, London, New York, and Cape Town, to demand an end to the ongoing war. Demonstrations also took place near the White House, protesting U.S. support for Israel in its military campaigns against Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The protests came as the conflict neared the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel which led to a military offensive in Gaza by Israel which has, so far, claimed at least 43,000 lives including 116-134 journalists and media workers and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, including 179 employees of UNRWA.

The Israeli bombardments have laid waste to the besieged enclave, displacing nearly all of the 2.3 million population and causing widespread hunger and disease, leading to genocide allegations against Israel by several countries at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Pro-Palestine Protests

In France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations, protests were held in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg, expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

protesters urging for Gaza ceasefire

In Rome, clashes broke out during an unauthorised pro-Palestinian rally, leading to confrontations with police, who used tear gas and water cannons. Italy’s Interior Minister had banned the protest over security concerns, warning of potential terrorist threats ahead of the anniversary.

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In London, around 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched from Russell Square to Whitehall, urging an end to the conflict. Across the Atlantic, over a thousand protesters gathered outside the White House, many calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.

In Cape Town in South Africa, hundreds walked to parliament, chanting: ‘Israel is a racist state!’ and ‘We are all Palestinian!’ Pro-Gaza marches also took place in Johannesburg and Durban.

Meanwhile, in New York’s Times Square, protesters donned keffiyeh scarves and chanted in support of Gaza and Lebanon: ‘Gaza, Lebanon you will rise, the people are by your side.’ They held banners demanding an arms embargo against Israel.

Gaza One Year On

According to a recent report by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor to mark one year since the war began, an estimated 10 per cent of Gaza’s population has been killed, injured, reported missing, or detained as a result of Israeli military assaults.

Since the start of the genocide, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army, including around 42,000 recorded by the Gaza Ministry of Health, the majority being women and children.

Of the 50,292 Palestinians killed—including those still buried under the debris—33 per cent were women, and 21 per cent were children. Thousands more have been forcibly detained, with 3,600 still in various Israeli prisons and detention centres.

In addition, approximately 100,000 have been injured, with thousands of bodies still lying under the rubble and in the streets, unreachable by rescue and medical teams.

As of September 25, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have damaged or destroyed over 60 per cent of Gaza’s structures, according to a satellite data study undertaken by Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University and Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center.

Oxfam this past week reported that only 17 of 36 hospitals remain functional, describing that ‘all suffer from a lack of fuel, medical supplies, and clean water.’

While the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Associated Press in September that he had ‘never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months.’

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