In the Gaza Strip, where a humanitarian crisis of man-made starvation has been worsening as a result of Israel’s punishing blockade, tens of thousands of demonstrators have marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia to demand aid be delivered.
Pro-Palestinian protesters marched across the bridge on Sunday, chanting “Ceasefire Now” and “Free Palestine.” They withstand strong winds and rain. Some marchgoers carried pots and pans as reminders of Gaza’s forced starvation, which the organizers dubbed the “March for Humanity.”
A joint statement from Australia and more than a dozen other countries expressed the “willingness or the positive consideration… to recognize the state of Palestine as an essential step towards the two-State solution” less than a week after the protest.
In recent weeks, France, Britain, and Canada have expressed their intentions to diplomatically recognize a Palestinian state because the Gaza hunger crisis has become more of an international concern and criticism.
According to the most recent figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 175 people have died in the territory from starvation and malnutrition since Israel launched its assault on Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
Australia has urged a resolution to the Gaza war, but it has so far avoided appointing a Palestinian state.
Up to 90, 000 people may have been present at the protest, according to police, while Palestine Action Group Sydney, the protest’s organizer, claimed in a Facebook post that up to 300, 000 people may have marched.
Marchers ranged from elderly to young-child-friendly families. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was one of them, who did not address the crowd or speak to the media.
The left-wing Greens party’s New South Wales senator Mehreen Faruqi addressed the crowd at Lang Park in central Sydney, calling for the “honest sanctions against Israel” and accusing its forces of “massacring” Palestinians.
Author of The Palestine Laboratory, a book about the Israeli arms and surveillance industry, Antony Loewenstein, who spoke at the rally, told Al Jazeera that protesters are “outraged” both by the Australian government’s “complicity” and what Israel is doing in Gaza.
According to Loewenstein, Australia has been a part of the global supply chain for the F-35 fighter jets that Israel has been using to attack the besieged territory for many years, including since the start of the war.
Source: Aljazeera
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