MADRID: Around 20,000 people marched in Madrid Saturday in support of Palestinians, a day after the UN’s top court said the Zionist entity must prevent genocidal acts in its war on Gaza. Many of the marchers carried banners and placards denouncing the “genocide” in Gaza, which has been under relentless bombardment for four months.

Some carried Palestinian flags and shouted slogans denouncing the Zionist entity. Others had banners thanking South Africa for having brought the case against the Zionist entity to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). South Africa accused the Zionist entity of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, set up after World War II and the Holocaust.

In its ruling on Friday, the ICJ said the Zionist entity must prevent genocide and allow aid into Gaza, but stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting. The ruling was denounced by Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “outrageous” and while many countries welcomed the ruling, others, such as Britain expressed reservations.

Spain, one of the most critical voices in Europe of the entity’s offensive against Hamas, was one of those to welcome Friday’s ruling. Relations between the two countries have soured over Madrid’s position on the issue. The Zionist entity recalled its top diplomat in Madrid in November after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed doubts about the legality of the entity’s war in Gaza. She returned in January.

‘Children are dying’

“They have been without water, without food, without anything, for almost 110 days,” one Madrid demonstrator, 54-year-old Lobna Elnakhala, said of the situation in Gaza. “Children are dying and living in a very difficult situation.” Some banners called for sanctions to be levied against the Zionist entity. The Madrid authorities put the turn-out at 20,000. — AFP