PARIS

A large number of pro-Palestinian activists joined ordinary French and anti-Zionist Jews in Paris' iconic Bastille Square on Friday to show support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, which aims to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli blockade for years.

Participants demanded the lifting of the Gaza siege and expressed support for the flotilla initiative.

French Jews opposed to Zionism participated in the rally alongside pro-Palestinian groups.

Protesters carried banners saying, "The Nakba continues." "Support the flotillas and Palestine will win." Protesters chanted "Break the blockade on Gaza" and "Freedom for Palestine."

Sarah Katz, a member of the Union of French Jews for Peace (UJFP), told Anadolu she had lived in Gaza for two years and joined the rally with about 20 other civil society groups.

“This shows there is an awareness that what is happening in Gaza is absolutely unbearable,” she said.

Katz condemned indiscriminate killings and the systematic destruction in Gaza, urging an end to the violence.

Recalling Israel’s 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship, in which several people were killed, she said Israeli authorities had believed that such an attack would deter future attempts to reach Gaza by sea.

“But flotillas around the world decided then that as long as Gaza remains under blockade, ships will keep coming,” she stressed, calling the use of famine as a “weapon of war” in Gaza unacceptable.