Campaigners say some 200 people have taken part in a demonstration in Margate protesting at the mass starvation of Palestinians in the Gaza strip, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says is caused by an Israeli blockade on aid to the enclave.
The protesters called for immediate action from MP for East Thanet Polly Billington and the UK government to secure a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, open up its borders to allow in aid, and end UK sale of arms to Israel.
A quarter of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million people are now facing famine-like conditions, the United Nations warned on July 20.
Banging pots and pans and chanting, for “love, grief, rage and hope”, residents of all ages braved the downpour yesterday (July 24) to gather at Margate Steps for the protest organised by the Thanet4Palestine group.
Mum-of-two Reha Joyette, 37, said she attended the protest because “we’ve got to the stage where this is about whether you are human or not.” She added: “If I starved my child I would be judged, I would be put in jail. Why are these children being starved? What’s their crime?”
Thanet4 Palestine member Callum Parsons, 26, branded the situation as an “intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people.”
The demonstration in Margate paraded through the Old Town and finished at East Thanet Labour Party’s office in Northdown Road.
PM issues statement
Today (July 25) Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a statement on the situation in Gaza, saying: “The appalling scenes in Gaza are unrelenting. The continued captivity of hostages, the starvation and denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, the increasing violence from extremist settler groups, and Israel’s disproportionate military escalation in Gaza are all indefensible.
“Alongside our closest allies, I am working on a pathway to peace in the region, focused on the practical solutions that will make a real difference to the lives of those that are suffering in this war.
“That pathway will set out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed, into a lasting peace.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis. This is the way to ensure it is a tool of maximum utility to improve the lives of those who are suffering – which of course, will always be our ultimate goal.”
‘700 aid trucks inside Gaza’
A spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they “categorically reject” claims about the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The spokesperson added: “Close to 4,500 trucks have entered Gaza, including flour for bakeries and 2,500 tons of baby food and high-calorie special food for children. There are more than 700 aid trucks inside Gaza waiting to be picked up by the UN.
“This bottleneck is the main obstacle to maintaining a consistent flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. For some, the obsession with attacking Israel is more important than helping the people of Gaza.”
President Isaac Herzog said Hamas was hijacking aid, adding: “What is absolutely clear is that the true obstacle to humanitarian relief is Hamas. Huge quantities of aid are flowing in – in conjunction with UN and EU efforts agreed by Israel. Hamas loots the aid and prevents its proper distribution.”
The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking food since late May, when the new Israel- and US-backed aid group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began operating.
Gaza conflict
The latest Gaza conflict has been fought since 7 October 2023 after Hamas-led militant groups launched a surprise attack on Israel, in which 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 815 civilians, were killed, and 251 taken hostage.
In the Israeli offensive that followed, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, including women and children.
Is it not now illegal to demonstrate regarding Palestine issues?
No.
One pro Palestinian action group is proscribed, but protesting in general about the appalling situation in Gaza is not (currently) illegal.
People are just getting fed up with them mate. They are so boring making fruitless protests in our towns carrying another countries flag, but never our own. Town centres nobody already wants to go are blighted by it. All they achieve is growing reforms vote count
Yes, Ten, it must get very boring to hear people chanting “stop bombing Gaza” for 21 months on the trot. Maybe if our government wasn’t facilitating the genocide then these chants would come to an end. Stop blaming the whistleblowers and try working out who are the villains and the victims.
No of course not its illegal to show support for the group Palestine Action
https://x.com/GovMikeHuckabee/status/1948432313710223795?t=SpXPQjpq79-ZjAefuFlJWQ&s=19
The time has come for Hamas to return the hostages and call a ceasefire
They don’t want to hear about hostages and that Hamas won’t talk
OK Benjamin, will the Israeli’s release all the Palestinian “Hostages” they are holding too! The Israeli’s were holding hundreds of mostly young Palestinians without trial, before the Hamas attack! This provoked the Hamas attack, as they had little option. If Hamas are a terrorist organisation, then by the smae measure Israel is a Terrorist Stete. Medecins Sans Frontieres & Doctors Without Borders state in full page national newspaper adevertisments “In Gaza, the ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli Government constitutes Genocide. And this Genocide is being perpetrated with absolute impunity”. The kiiling of tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly babies, children, and women, constitutes mass murder by the Israeli’s, and is indefensable!
Starmer’s not the brightest of puppets, is he?
For the past 21 months he’s been describing Israel’s military escalation as reasonable self defence, while millions of peace campaigners have been trying to educate him that he’s been in bed with war criminals. Suddenly he’s prepared to admit that the escalation is “disproportionate”. Is he behaving like a rusty weathervane or does he have a new puppet master pulling his strings?
Of course it is not illegal to protest against genocide!
Perhaps if Hamas were to return the hostages it holds then the situation would resolve itself. But again, Hamas can’t because other radical groups hold the hostages and aren’t willing to give them up.
This is no longer about the hostages, wake up!
Starmer will not recognise the Palestinian state, Starmer and his family follow the Shabat and are active members of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London. Doesn’t take much to join the dots.
If hamas didn’t launch their attack on October 7th there would be zero casualties in Gaza.
They have every right to defend themselves against that attack, it was an outright war crime. Works both ways!
So Israel killing tens of thousands of babies, children, and defensless women, elderly, sick, and innocent people, bombing and reducing Gaza to rubble, and starving Palestinians is “defending themselves” is it Ms Brimm? You need to get help, because the Israeli’s and specifically the IDF are mass murdering war criminals. What ever sympathy practising Jews may have had due to the holocaust has been destroyed, and means practising Jews will now be targeted, world wide!
If Israel had been a good neighbour then the events of 7th October would have been inconceivable. Stop blaming Hamas for everything!
I suppose we deserved the IRA bombings too.
Liberation movements have always existed fighting against injustice, as the IRA were! The injustices against Catholics in Northern Ireland made them a persecuted minority, which they had been fighting against for hundreds of years. They eventually won a place in government, which they would not have achieved peacefully would they Peter, Duuurh!
Haha, good neighbours to people who elected a group whose soul aim is the destruction of Israel? Give your head a wobble!
So slaughtering innocent civilians in the Kibbutz on 7th October has not done them any favours really has it …
The slaughtering of 60,000 is not doing them any favours either
shows how much the people of Thanet don’t know about history, I’m done
Why didn’t they just email Polly with their concerns? Apparently she always replies.
“Their” concerns?
These concerns are everybody’s concerns.
Which is why Polly always replies.
Are these gatherings not now illegal according to the government no areasts made.
Protesst against the Israeli’s are taking place worldwide, because they are copying the German NAIZ’s, by turning Gaza into a Ghetto, and starving, shooting, bombing, and shelling the Palestinans! The Israeli’ are trying to drive the Paletinians out of Gaza, all in the name of their religion which They have tainted forever!
Do we really believe that it’s acceptable to support a terrorist state?
Didn’t the WHO say in March that aid delivered during the ceasefire that month was enough to feed the whole Gaza population for 7 months? (as did UN, WFP, and food gencies). Yet, here we are less than 5 months on and everyone is said to be starving.
Makes one wonder about the credibility of WHO…
Not everyone has been allowed to starve. Tens of thousands of innocent citizens of Gaza have been murdered or maimed by a neighbouring terrorist state. Meanwhile our own government has spent 21 months looking the other way while our mainstream media fills their front pages with nauseating pictures of the Royal family, hoping to hide the real news from the rest of us.
The ones that haven’t been shot are starving