AhlulBayt News Agency: Tens of thousands of Australians took to the streets in Sydney to show solidarity with Gaza, expressing skepticism over the recently announced ceasefire aimed at halting Israel’s two-year genocide on the besieged Palestinian territory.
The organiser, the Palestine Action Group, estimated that nearly 30,000 Australians participated in a pro-Palestinian rally on Sunday.
The protesters voiced doubts about Israel’s commitment to uphold its ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Footage from the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) showed protesters, many carrying Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyeh scarves, marching through closed city streets.
Damian Ridgwell, an organizer of the Sydney rally, said, “We demand an end to this genocide, an end to the trade of military hardware and equipment to a [regime] which has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the last two years, tens of thousands of children.”
“We urge everyone to join us on the streets … to fill the city with Palestinian flags to stand for justice and liberation,” he stated.
Even if the ceasefire remains in place, Israel continues to maintain a military occupation over Gaza and the West Bank, said Amal Naser, another organizer.
He further noted that the ongoing occupation, along with the systemic discrimination Palestinians face in their ancestral land, constitutes an Apartheid system.
Protester Abbi Jordan said she attended the rally because “this so-called ceasefire will not hold … Israel always breaks every ceasefire they have ever done.”
“For 78 years, they have been conducting an illegal occupation in Palestinian territories, and we demand the Australian government sanction Israel,” she added.
The rally took place in the city’s business district after a court last week blocked a request to hold it at the Sydney Opera House.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been frequent in Australia, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Last Thursday, the Israeli regime formally approved a ceasefire agreement proposed by US President Donald Trump, marking the start of the first phase of a broader peace plan.
The agreement calls for an end to hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the facilitation of humanitarian aid, and a captive/abductee exchange.
A Hamas official confirmed that the release of the remaining Israeli captives, both living and deceased, will begin on Monday morning local time.
Nearly 2,000 Palestinian abductees, many seized during the Israeli genocide, will also be freed after the captives’ release under the agreement.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, at least 67,682 Palestinians have been killed and 170,033 wounded, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Experts believe the real death toll is far higher, as thousands of Palestinians remain missing or trapped under the rubble.
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