Thousands in pro-Palestinian protests in London, Madrid

Thousands of protesters in London and Madrid marched in support of Palestinians on Saturday as Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip faced some of the worst bombardment by Israeli forces in years.

In London, several thousand protesters carrying placards reading "Stop Bombing Gaza" and chanting "Free Palestine" converged on Marble Arch, near the British capital's Hyde Park, to march towards the Israeli embassy.

In Madrid, some 2,500 people, many of them young people wrapped in Palestinian flags, marched to the Puerta del Sol plaza in the city centre.

"This is not a war, it's genocide," They chanted.

"They are massacring us," said Amira Sheikh-Ali, a 37-year-old of Palestinian origin.

"We're in a situation when the Nakba is continuing in the middle of the 21st century," she said, referring to the "catastrophe" word used by Palestinians to describe the ethnic cleansing campaign carried out during Israel's creation in 1948, when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven out.

— Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm) May 15, 2021" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post This is London Underground, completely blocked as thousands are queuing to exit the station for the protest outside Israel embassy in Marble Arch London. #Palestine #Gaza pic.twitter.com/5gt6dwf8HI — Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm) May 15, 2021

"We want to ask Spain and the European authorities not to collaborate with Israel, because with their silence, they are collaborating," said Ikhlass Abousousiane, a 25-year-old nurse of Moroccan origin. 

The marches came amid the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence since a 2014 war in Gaza.

Gaza militants fired a volley of rockets at Israel on Monday in response to attacks on worshippers in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the threatened expulsion of several Palestinian families from their homes in the occupied eastern neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Israel responded to the ongoing rocket fire with an onslaught of shelling and airstrikes, killing at least 139 people including 39 children. At least 10 Israelis have been killed since Monday.

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