THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
Patrick Bruel on the podium during the demonstration for the release of Israeli hostages on April 7, 2024.
DEMONSTRATION – Coming together to remember. Some 1,500 people demonstrated in Paris this Sunday April 7, six months after Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel, “for the release of the hostages” Israelis detained in Gaza, we learned from the police headquarters.
Gathered at the end of the afternoon at the Trocadéro, facing the Eiffel Tower, the demonstrators, gathered at the call of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif), chanted several times “Free the hostages”. Some held signs reading: “Your silence is deafening”.
On the platform, several personalities including Enrico Macias and Patrick Bruel. “I am here to ask all French people for the release of the hostages unconditionally and as quickly as possible”launched first to the crowd. “We have gone through tragic events in our history (…). But we will get through this”he added. “Six months these people have been detained, martyred, raped. We are here for them, we hope for a return”also declared the second.
129 hostages still in Hamas hands
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in Israel, the majority civilians killed the same day, according to a count by the AFP based on official Israeli figures.
More than 250 people were kidnapped during the attack and taken to Gaza where 129 remain detained, including 34 who died, according to Israeli officials.
“Release the hostages, this is what the UN must demand”said Crif vice-president Nathalie Cohen-Beizermann to the crowd. “Our cry is to demand freedom for our martyred brothers and sisters. This war could end tomorrow if Hamas releases the hostages”she said. “To speak of famine in Gaza is to believe the terrorists who glorify death”she further estimated.
Rallies in Berlin and London
In retaliation for the Hamas attack, the Israeli army launched a campaign of intense aerial bombardments on the Gaza Strip, followed by a ground offensive, which left 33,175 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the ministry. of Hamas Health, and caused a humanitarian disaster.
Around twenty French caregivers, in a column sent to AFP, denounced in the Crif event “a demonstration of support for the Israeli army”. “We are witnesses and have audio-visual and written evidence of abuses committed against civilians” in Gaza “regarding war crimes and crimes against humanity”they insisted in this text.
Rallies were also held in several European capitals. In London, where 200 demonstrators were present, Ayala Harel, 59, whose uncle Michel Nisembaum is still hostage, called “the world to help”. “Everyone must put pressure on Hamas. It is very simple “, she observed. There were also 200 of them in Berlin, waving Israeli flags and brandishing photos of hostages.
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