LONDON: A UK-based pro-Palestinian activist organization on Wednesday organized a sit-in demonstration in Parliament to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said that 25 activists timed the protest in Central Hall, Westminster, to coincide with Prime Minister’s Questions.
According to PSC, the protest sought to draw attention to the need for a permanent ceasefire to bring an end to Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza “and to create the conditions to begin to address the root causes of the current crisis, including action to end the siege of Gaza.”
Under Wednesday’s temporary ceasefire deal, Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day pause in fighting to allow the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
PSC earlier on Wednesday released a separate statement welcoming the “temporary truce,” but said that “a four-day respite will not end the killing of civilians, nor will it be long enough to address the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip caused by 46 days of relentless bombing and ground attacks, which have killed over 14,000 Palestinians, over 40 percent of whom were children.”
Ben Jamal, PSC’s director, said that without a permanent ceasefire, the temporary cessation of hostilities “could prove to be little more than a stay of execution for thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.”
He added: “Now more than ever we need to raise our voices to demand that this truce is made permanent, that the cruel siege on Gaza is lifted, and the root causes of the crisis in Palestine are addressed. That is the demand we took to the heart of Parliament today.”
