Video: Thousands protest at Dutch train stations against Israel's starvation of Gaza
Several thousand Netherlands residents protested at train stations across the country on Thursday evening, calling for an end to the humanitarian crisis and famine in Gaza. Many carried plates, pots, and ladles to symbolize how Israel is blocking supplies from entering the Palestinian territory. Many Palestinian flags were visible at the demonstrations.
At least 1,500 people protested at Amsterdam Central Station, NOS reports. Nearly a thousand people gathered at Rotterdam Central Station. There were several hundred protesters at the demonstrations in The Hague, Utrecht, and Leiden. And smaller protests were held in Enschede, Groningen, Eindhoven, Amersfoort, Assen, and Den Bosch. In some cities, the sit-ins moved to other locations. In Amsterdam and Eindhoven, for example, protesters marched through the city center.
The Palestinian Community in the Netherlands (PGNL) foundation organized the sit-ins at the train stations. The foundation distributed flyers, urging people to take action by contacting Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp, demanding sanctions and an arms embargo against Israel, boycotting Israeli products, and joining more protests.
The municipality of Amsterdam also urged the national government to take more action. Mayor Feke Halsema wrote, on behalf of the city council and many Amsterdam locals, that the government must “choose the side of law and justice” and strongly condemn Israeli violence against Palestinians.
“We are ashamed of the inaction displayed by Europe while doctors collapse, the last Palestinian journalists are unable to work due to hunger, children die, and mothers can no longer feed their babies. While violence is used against Palestinians who report in need to the very scarce food distribution, and hunger is used as a weapon of war, our government and parliament remain silent,” the Amsterdam mayor wrote. Halsema urged the Dutch government to “actually respect and show the human rights that the Netherlands holds so dear in our foreign policy.”
Earlier this week, over 100 aid organizations urged global governments to act against Israel, saying that aid workers have now joined the ranks of starving and collapsing people in the Gaza Strip, risking getting gunned down by Israeli soldiers at food distribution points.
“Just outside Gaza, in warehouses - and even within Gaza itself - tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them,” the aid organizations wrote, saying that the Israeli government’s actions have created chaos, starvation, and death.
Israel has only let a trickle of aid into Gaza for weeks, and Israeli soldiers have been attacking and killing Palestinians at or heading toward food distribution points. As of July 13, the United Nations confirmed that Israeli forces have killed 875 Palestinians seeking food, 201 on aid routes, and the rest at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured.
As of July 22, Israeli attacks have killed 59,106 people, including at least 17,400 children, in the Gaza Strip. At least 142,115 people are injured, Al Jazeera reported based on figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The attacks and siege started as retaliation for a Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October 2023, in which 1,139 people were killed.
