Un manifestant brandit un drapeau palestinien devant l'ambassade américaine lors d'une marche pro-palestinienne dans le centre de Londres, le 15 février 2025, organisée par la Campagne de solidarité avec la Palestine. Photo AFP/BENJAMIN CREMEL
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched to the U.S. embassy in London on Saturday to protest against President Donald Trump’s proposal to take control of Gaza and expel its inhabitants. Waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs reading 'Hands off Gaza,' several thousand protesters walked from Whitehall, home to the British prime minister’s residence, to the U.S. embassy south of the Thames.
Trump last week proposed that the United States take control of Gaza and remove the Palestinian population, envisioning the reconstruction of the war-ravaged territory into the 'Riviera of the Middle East' after resettling its people elsewhere, including in Egypt and Jordan.
His remarks sparked global outrage, with Arab nations condemning the proposal and reaffirming their commitment to a two-state solution — an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Among the London protesters, banners read: 'Stand up to Trump' and 'Mr. Trump, Canada is not your 51st state. Gaza is not your 52nd.'
"I think this is completely immoral, illegal, but also unfeasible and absurd," said Stephen Kapos, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, speaking to AFP.
"You simply cannot expel two million people, especially when neighboring countries have already said they won’t take them," he emphasized. "It won’t happen, but the mere fact that this is being discussed as a potential solution is already causing great harm."
The march, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was the 24th such demonstration in the British capital since the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data, which includes hostages who died or were killed in captivity. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 48,264 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, which are considered reliable by the United Nations, and has caused a humanitarian disaster.
Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters on Saturday released three Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, in the sixth such exchange since the cease-fire, which nearly collapsed earlier this week.
