A “March for Palestine” organized by NGO activists set off at 1 p.m. from the Copernicus monument and moved to the Polish parliament (Sejm), where participants urged Warsaw to terminate cooperation agreements with Israel and support a full suspension of all provisions of the EU–Israel Association Agreement.
Demonstrators carried banners reading “Stop genocide,” “Free Palestine,” “We are refugees of the land,” and “Silence kills,” and chanted “Warsaw remembers the genocide” along the Royal Route.
Organizers included Emil Al-Khawaldeh, the kefija collective, Pracownicza Demokracja and the Forum Palestyńskie w Polsce. They outlined further demands: a complete Polish embargo on arms trade with Israel; material support in Poland for survivors of the war; use of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to evacuate wounded from Gaza to Poland; detention in Poland of Israeli citizens who took part in or supported war crimes; and suspension of the Poland–Israel visa facilitation agreement.
One organizer said Sunday’s rally also referenced a late-July hunger strike by three pro-Palestinian activists calling for firm action by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski “in response to Israel’s war crimes.”
The ongoing onslaught on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251. Israel’s response has since killed more than 61,300 Palestinians. Many governments fear a planned new Israeli offensive will worsen civilians’ plight in the enclave, where a deepening humanitarian crisis includes hunger. Gaza’s local health ministry said last week 217 people, including 100 children, have died from hunger and malnutrition since the war began.
Israel’s military actions in Gaza have drawn criticism from a range of political groups worldwide, and pro-Palestinian marches have been regularly held in Western Europe, the United States and Canada.
Activists, NGOs and parts of Europe’s political scene accuse Israel of multiple violations in Gaza, particularly against civilians. In a July report, the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) said nearly 13,000 children in Gaza had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition, with more than 2,800 (22%) suffering severe acute malnutrition.
Israel denies contributing to hunger, accusing Hamas of stealing aid and the U.N. of poor distribution.
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Source: PAP
Click on the audio player above for a report by Michał Owczarek.