Several hundred people marched on Sunday in London to demand Hamas release the Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza and criticise Britain’s planned recognition of the State of Palestine.
Joined by several relatives of the hostages, the march ended at the 10 Downing Street office of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state if Israel does not agree to a truce in its war with Hamas.
Many of the protesters waved Israeli flags or wore yellow ribbons, a symbol of solidarity with the hostages, whose liberation the organisers of the march argue should be the Labour leader’s priority.
Of the 251 hostages Hamas seized in its October 7, 2023 attack which began the war in Gaza, 49 are still held captive, including 27 who the Israeli army says are dead.
Among the demonstrators were Ayelet Stavitsky, sister of dead hostage Nadav Popplewell, and Adam Ma’anit, cousin of Tsachi Idan, who died while held by Hamas.
“I think that the government got it wrong with its foreign policy, that it’s time for it to correct and refocus on the hostages,” said Ma’anit, criticising Starmer’s planned recognition of a Palestinian state in September.
Three people, identified as counter-protesters, were arrested, two of them for violent acts, police said.
Israel has faced mounting outcry over the 22-month-long war with Hamas, with United Nations-backed experts warning of widespread famine in besieged Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under mounting pressure to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as well as over his plans to expand the Gaza war, which he has vowed to do without the backing of Israel’s allies abroad.
Starmer’s move towards recognising a State of Palestine follows on from similar pledges made by leaders including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, as international disquiet over the dire humanitarian in the Palestinian territory grows.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, whose toll the United Nations considers reliable.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
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© Agence France-Presse
