Belgian students join worldwide protests against Israeli attacks on Gaza

By Selin Valente Rasquinho

BRUSSELS (AA) - Students in the Free University of Brussels on Tuesday joined the worldwide protests against the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Carrying Palestinian flags and banners with pro-Palestinian slogans, “Palestine is Standing up for Humanity”, the students occupied the Institute of Physics Education in the university's central campus.

"We aim to call on the international community to stop Israeli attacks on Rafah," the students said in a statement, adding that the protest is expected to last for three days, during which they will boycott the classes.

In another major Belgian university, the University of Ghent, a group of protesting students demanded the university cut all ties with the institutions which directly or indirectly are complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza by Israel.

Israel claimed to have taken “operational control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossings,” after advancing during the night as their warplanes pounded residential homes.

On Monday, Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in eastern Rafah, a move widely seen as a prelude to Israel's long-feared attack on the city, home to some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

Nearly 34,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip since last October, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Israel also stands accused of genocide in an ongoing case at the International Court of Justice.

An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.