JOHANNESBURG

Hundreds of South Africans marched on the streets of Cape Town on Friday, protesting against the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Holding Palestinian flags and banners with messages of solidarity with Palestinians, protesters marched to parliament.

“I call on the President, Cyril Ramaphosa not to only stand at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and speak on Palestine, but act upon it,” Mandla Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela, a global icon and South Africa’s first black president, said in his address to the large crowd outside parliament.

Mandela also called on South Africa’s Minister of Transport to cancel the air traffic license of Israeli airline El Al.

“We call on the Department on International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Naledi Pandor, to tell the president that the ‘apartheid’ state of Israel’s Embassy is no longer welcome in South Africa,” he said to cheers from the crowd.

The protest organized by the Al-Quds Foundation drew people from various religious denominations, including Muslims, Christians and Jews.

This is the second such protest to take place in Cape Town this week. On Wednesday, South Africans in Johannesburg picketed outside the US Consulate and residents of Cape Town marched to the offices of the South African Zionist Federation.

Many protesters called for boycotting Israeli goods and urged their government to end diplomatic ties.

In a dramatic escalation of Middle East tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began last Saturday when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea and air.

Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers' growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

Israel's response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.