British health care workers staged a silent march in central London on Saturday to express solidarity with their counterparts in the Gaza Strip and to call for a cease-fire amid ongoing Israeli attacks.
The demonstration, led by health care professionals, took place outside St. Thomas’ Hospital, with over 200 medical staff having lost their lives in the Gaza Strip since the onset of the conflict.
Addressing the crowd, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, condemned what he termed as “deliberate” attacks by Israel on hospitals, doctors, ambulances, and rescue teams.
Zomlot asserted that these actions aimed to render Gaza unlivable, emphasizing the crucial role of doctors as a lifeline for society.
Zomlot expressed gratitude to health care workers for their support and emphasized that the silent march conveyed the “loudest message” to governments that remained silent on the Gaza situation.
He characterized the ongoing conflict as a war on children, families, hospitals, schools, universities, and infrastructure—a sentiment echoed by a UNICEF spokesperson who described it as a “war on children.”
The ambassador stressed that the future of Gaza should be decided by the Palestinian people and called for an immediate, comprehensive, and permanent cease-fire to halt what he described as atrocities, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Palestinian population.
During the silent march toward Downing Street, protesters carried signs bearing the names of health care workers killed in Gaza.
Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, highlighted the importance of pro-Palestine demonstrations, linking the root causes of the violence to Israel’s military occupation and the imposition of apartheid on Palestinians.
Jamal cited genocide scholars, asserting that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted a “textbook case of genocide.”
He called for sustained pressure on political leaders to demand a cease-fire, citing the isolation of Israel in the global community as evidenced by a recent UN General Assembly vote.
British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta, who recently worked in Gaza, condemned Israeli attacks on hospitals, describing them as continuous murder against the Palestinian health system.
Abu Sitta called for sanctions against Israel until the genocide stops and emphasized the urgency of providing medical aid to the wounded in Gaza.
According to Gaza’s health authorities, at least 18,800 Palestinians, predominantly children and women, have been killed, and 51,000 injured.
