On Sunday, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators participated in a rally in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The demonstration started at Writers Square and proceeded along Royal Avenue to the city hall, lasting approximately two hours. The event included a series of speeches from representatives of groups such as the Northern Ireland Council for Racial Equality, ICTU, Unison, and Jews for Palestine. Among those addressing the crowd were members of the Assembly, Pat Sheehan from Sinn Féin and Gerry Caroll from People Before Profit. A group of approximately 100 people also attended a vigil in support of Israel that was held outside the gates of Belfast City Hall.
Protests in support of Palestine were also held across several cities in the United Kingdom over the weekend, including London, Glasgow and Manchester. The rallies came a week after Hamas launched a significant attack on Israel. According to reports, militants from the group killed at least 1,300 Israelis by entering communities near the Gaza Strip, which led to Israel reacting with retaliatory air strikes. Approximately 2,300 people have been killed in Gaza since the military response from Israel, and there is concern that a ground offensive will follow. Israeli authorities have asked 1.1 million people to move to the country’s south, prompting criticism from organisations such as the World Health Organisation over the removal of hospital patients from the north.
Speaking to reporters, Saeb Shaath stated his family is in Gaza and being denied access to water, electricity, and fuel. In Saturday’s Hamas attack, Mr Shaath lost four members of his family. “We thank the people in Belfast here to show their support, but at the same time we feel dismayed by western leaders. This is a war crime what’s happening in Gaza, a war crime supported by some British politicians and American politicians,” he said.
On Sunday, Irish deputy prime minister, Micheál Martin, commented that he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Israel and Gaza. The Israeli military’s decision to request that the entire civilian population in the north of Gaza move southward in an effort to keep them safe because of the conflict’s escalation is both “deeply dangerous and impossible to implement,” according to Martin. “There is no doubt about the brutal criminality of Hamas and their utter disregard for human life, including the lives of their fellow Palestinians, but we absolutely must distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” he added. The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, confirmed that plans are being made to evacuate around 40 Irish citizens in Gaza who are UN aid workers or hold dual citizenship.
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