Italian lawmakers unfurl Palestinian flags in parliament

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) - A group of lawmakers from Italy’s opposition 5-Star Movement unfurled Palestinian flags in parliament on Tuesday in protest against Israel’s attacks on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Movement leader Giuseppe Conte, a former prime minister, shared a photo from the lower house of parliament showing lawmakers unfurling at least five Palestinian flags.

"Another massacre of civilians in Rafah. More deaths, more destruction among the displaced," he wrote on X.

"Let's stop (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's madness! Two peoples and two states for Palestine and Israel,” he added.

In solidarity with Palestinians in the besieged enclave, students from Sapienza University of Rome staged a rally on the campus, where they have held encampment protests for a month.

Along with Palestinian flags, the students also carried sings during the march, some of which said "Rafah is burning," "Israel is a terrorist state" and "Sapienza is complicit."

They chanted pro-Palestinian slogans like "Free Palestine" and "Free Gaza” and also condemned the university’s administration over its cooperation with Italian firms that are selling arms to Israel.

Erica, a university student who attended the protest to support the Sapienza students, reiterated their demand that the university end all ties with Israeli universities.

"They are complicit in the killings and bombardments currently taking place in Rafah and across Palestine in general," she said.

Israel's nearly eight-month war on Gaza has led to more than 36,000 deaths in the war-torn coastal enclave and has injured over 81,100.

Israel's military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

Israel bombed a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice that ordered it to halt its offensive in the city, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the worsening conflict.

At least 200 people were killed, among them women and children, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said Tuesday.