Activists protest ‘genocide’ in Gaza, demand government action

Activists gathered outside Parliament on Friday night to protest the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza, demanding the government condemn Israel and call for EU sanctions on the country.

They also called on the government to prohibit Malta-flagged vessels from delivering weapons and military materials to Israel, and to immediately recognise a Palestinian state.

Activists lined the outside of Parliament holding up Palestinian flags and placards with slogans including “Free Palestine”, “End the genocide” and “Malta: Act now against mass starvation”.

Other placards read that 400,000 Palestinians were at risk from “imminent death” and that 436,000 Palestinian homes had been destroyed in Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Photos from inside the Palestinian enclave were projected on a nearby wall, showing emaciated children and rubble-strewn landscapes of destroyed residential areas.

Photos taken in Gaza were projected on a nearby wall. Photo: Moviment Graffiti.

In a statement, the Palestinian embassy and five activist groups said: “Following 77 years of colonisation of Palestinian land by Israel, and nearly two years of Israeli genocidal aggression in Gaza... Israel is now imposing mass starvation on the Palestinian population”.

The groups noted that over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s assault, which had “devastated the entire territory”.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 61,158 people had been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict and 151,442 injured, citing Gaza Ministry of Health figures.

“Children, women, and men are dying of hunger before our eyes. To accept and remain inactive in the face of this horror is to endanger the very essence of our humanity”, the groups said.

They called on the government to take a “strong and unambiguous stand by condemning Israel and calling for its sanctioning, including the cancellation of the EU-Israel Association Agreement”.

Protestors lined the outside of Parliament holding up placards and flags. Photo: Moviment Graffiti.

The organisations also demanded that Maltese authorities prohibit Malta-flagged vessels from transporting military supplies to Israel and enforce a “clear and enforced policy” preventing such vessels from entering Maltese waters or being serviced by Maltese ships.

They said the government must “immediately” recognise a Palestinian state. Last month, Prime Minister Robert Abela said Malta would officially recognise Palestine at a UN general assembly in September.

The statement was signed by the Embassy of Palestine in Malta, Ġustizzja għall-Palestina, Moviment Graffitti, The Lebanese Advocates, The Watermelon Warriors and Youth for Palestine.