Six months after Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel, more than a thousand people demonstrated in Paris on Sunday “for the release of the hostages” Israelis detained in Gaza. 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”. “We have forgotten these hostages in the world”declared to theAFP Agnès Antoine, 56, holding the portrait of Gad Haggaï, an Israeli septuagenarian “kidnapped and executed in captivity”. “We decided to come today because it’s half a year. That’s six months of a person’s life about which we no longer know anything. France and the rest of the world are completely turned (against Israel) and Israel is alone.she estimated.
“I am here to ask all French people for the release of the hostages unconditionally and as quickly as possible”launched singer Enrico Macias from the podium. “We have gone through tragic events in our history (…). But we will get through this.”
Caregivers denounce the demonstration
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 of them civilians killed the same day.
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. 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, most of them civilians, according to the Ministry of Defense. Hamas Health, and caused a humanitarian disaster.
“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. “Talk about famine in Gaza it’s believing the terrorists who glorify death”she further estimated.
Around twenty French caregivers, in a column sent to theAFPdenounced in the Crif event on Sunday “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 “containing war crimes and crimes against humanity”they insisted in this text.