Paris-Brussels march kicks off in solidarity with Palestine

By Esra Taskin

PARIS (AA) - A march in Paris in solidarity with Palestine, which intends to reach Brussels by Feb.1 when a special European Council meeting is to be held, kicked off Saturday.

Carrying Palestinian flags, and banners that read: “Free Palestine and Stop the Genocide,” demonstrators also chanted, “Israel is killing Palestinian children" and "Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people.”

Taktak Alaa Eddine, a member of the French Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS), told Anadolu that protesters will appeal to EU officials to impose economic and political sanctions against Israel during the EU Council meeting.

Calling Israel an apartheid state, he said the EU is on the wrong side of history, owing to its policies on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.

At least 24,927 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 62,388 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.