Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday to demand economic and diplomatic sanctions against Israel and an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Police estimated that 9,000 people marched through the city.
The spokesman for the Belgo-Palestinian Association, Gergory Mauze, said he did not believe the solution to the Israeli aggression on Gaza was military and condemned Israel for collectively punishing Palestinians for Operation al-Aqsa Storm, which was carried out by the Gaza-based resistance groups on October 7, 2023.
"So the point (of the protest) is to insist on the fact that there is no military solution to this conflict, which has led to far too many deaths and which has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Now is the time for Belgium and the European Union to say that not only this war must end [and] there must be a ceasefire, but also we must take action to force Israel to end its murderous offensive, which is directed not against Hamas but against the whole of the Palestinian people," he said.
The demonstration came as the toll from Israel's genocide in Gaza exceeded 25,000, and the regime's brutal onslaught continued unabated on Sunday.
Gaza's health ministry said 178 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, one of the deadliest days of the war so far. It added that a total of 25,105 Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed and 62,681 wounded in Israeli strikes since October 7
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Sunday denounced Israel for what he called the "heartbreaking" deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
(Source: Reuters)