Tens of thousands of people have marched through Australia’s major cities and towns, organiers said, demanding action to save dying and starving Palestinians.
More than 40 protests took place across Australia on Sunday, the group Palestine Action said, including large turnouts in state capitals Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
“We demand from our politicians more than just talk. We are long past this,” Remah Naji, one of the organisers of the protest in the eastern city of Brisbane, told Al Jazeera.
“Now, we demand actions in the same way we acted in times of genocide. We are signatories to the Genocide Convention, which means that we have an obligation to prevent and punish genocide when it occurs.”
Protests denouncing Israel’s war and starvation campaign were also held in several other countries on Sunday.
In Australia, where people rallied in cities of all sizes nationwide, protesters urged sanctions against Israel and an end to arms trade with the country, which has been accused of carrying out a genocide by leading rights groups.
Organisers estimate more than 300,000 people participated in the demonstrations.
In Sydney, organiser Josh Lees said Australians were out in force to “demand an end to this genocide in Gaza and to demand that our government sanction Israel” as rallygoers, many with Palestinian flags, chanted “free, free Palestine”.
In Melbourne, protesters congregated outside the State Library Victoria, chanting “sanction Israel now”.
Organiser Nour Salman said Australia’s plans to recognise Palestinian statehood must be accompanied by tougher sanctions on Israel.
“Enough is enough. There is no ifs, buts or maybes,” Salman said.
Thousands also gathered in the southwestern city of Perth.
“Our government cannot claim to support human rights while continuing to arm an apartheid regime,” Friends of Palestine Western Australia organiser Nick Everett was quoted as saying by WAToday newspaper.
“Trade unions, civil society, and communities across the country are united in calling for action. Palestine can’t wait.”
‘Enough is enough’
The protests came after the world’s leading authority on food crises – the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – declared famine in Gaza City.
The warning has come as Israeli forces have intensified attacks and bombardments across Gaza, where nearly two million people have been displaced.
The IPC report said more than half a million people in Gaza – about a quarter of its population – face catastrophic levels of hunger, with many at risk of dying from malnutrition-related issues.
Protests in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza were also held elsewhere around the globe on Sunday, including in Malaysia, Kenya, Belgium and Senegal. Over the weekend, demonstrations took place in the United Kingdom and Sweden.
A mass rally held in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, saw thousands of people demonstrate, answering a call by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who said the demonstration would act as a starting point to form a group of activists to take humanitarian aid to Gaza later this month.
In Senegal’s capital Dakar, demonstrators condemned Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the enclave, and called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the famine-struck Gaza Strip.
In Nairobi, hundreds of bikers rallied, chanting: “Free Palestine”. Many decried the international community for its inability to stop Israel’s deadly assault.
Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from Nairobi, said protesters are standing in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
“They have watched horrific images of children who are starving; they have seen parents being killed as they go to get food for their families,” Soi said. “Here, they are saying: ‘Enough is enough.’”
At least 62,263 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Palestine war since it started on October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The victims include at least 2,000 Palestinians who were attempting to secure meagre food parcels at the Israeli and US-backed GHF aid distribution sites, dubbed by Palestinian officials as “death traps”.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
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