Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters hold placards as during a protest march in central London, on April 13, 2024. AFP
In central London, pro-Palestinian activists and supporters were seen waving flags and holding banners during a National Day of Action calling for a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza.
Some of those participating in the protests were holding placards expressing "Jewish Solidarity with Palestine" and declaring "Jews Against Genocide" in response to the Israeli war on Gaza that has killed at least 33,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Similar protests were seen outside the Houses of Parliament in the British capital with hundreds of protestors holding Palestinian flags in a show of support for Gazans suffering under Israel's war.
In Germany, hundreds took to the streets of central Berlin to express their solidarity with Palestine and frustration toward their country's stance on Israel's war crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza.
The protests follow the cancellation of a "Palestine Congress" meeting on Friday where prominent Palestinian-British surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta was expected to give a speech recounting the Israeli atrocities he saw committed against Palestinians while he was working in Gaza's hospitals over the past months.
Footage circulated on social media showed German police brutally cracking down on the protests.
Abu Sitta said he was denied entry into Germany after being held at Berlin airport upon his arrival Friday morning. He was held for several hours before being told he had to take the next flight back to the UK.
Airport police said he was refused entry due to “the safety of the people at the conference and public order,” Abu Sitta told The Associated Press by phone.
Abu Sitta said his ban ended on Sunday, thus covering the planned duration of the Berlin conference (entitled the Palestine Congress) he was to attend. The gathering was to discuss a range of topics, including German arms shipments to Israel and solidarity with what organizers called the Palestinian struggle.
The Gaza health ministry said Saturday that at least 33,686 Palestinians have been killed and 76,309 others wounded during more than six months of Israel's war on Gaza that began in early October.
The toll includes at least 52 killed and 95 others wounded over the past 24 hours, the ministry added in a statement.
The latest tally comes after Israel's military said it had struck more than 30 targets across Gaza over the previous day.
In the main central city of Deir al-Balah, the fire burned in the rubble of a destroyed mosque.
Israel's military "demanded that the whole area be evacuated" before it was "wiped out in minutes", said Abdullah Baraka, a witness.
In nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, Abd Thabet said residents had been warned to evacuate on Friday evening ahead of a large explosion that caused "massive destruction".
"All of the houses were demolished, including my home," the 35-year-old told AFP.
"There are children, women and the elderly, and we left without taking anything from our homes."
Israel's siege of Gaza has also sparked a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, particularly in the north where Gazans live under "famine-like conditions."
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