British-Palestinian Children Hand Government Petition to Stop War in Gaza
(AWP) - A number of British-Palestinian children handed the British Prime Minister’s Office a petition signed by more than 1300 children, accompanied with a box of handwritten messages, both demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Ihab al-Sharif, an organiser of the initiative, which was launched by several British - Palestinian families, said that the petition was written by the children in support of the Palestinian people.
The petition called on the British government to intervene to end the ongoing war, which has killed more than 18,000 people since it began more than two months ago.
Al-Sharif said that the children handed the government a box full of handwritten messages calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the British opposition to push for an immediate ceasefire.
Talia, one of the girls who had participated in writing the petition and the messages, said that she joined the initiative after losing three members of her parents’ family in Gaza.
Sham, another girl who carried the petition and box to the Prime Minister’s office, said that she had lost more than 40 members of her family in Gaza: "I lost more than 40 people from my family in Gaza, including my mother’s brothers and sisters, my grandfather and my grandmother. Twenty of those who died were children between the ages of three months and thirteen years,” she added.
The delivery of the petition coincided with a demonstration outside the government headquarters that was organised by the Pro-Palestinian Coalition in Britain, in cooperation with families from Gaza, to demand an immediate halt to targeting children and a ceasefire in the Strip.
Protesters chanted slogans and raised banners condemning the war, and some told stories of the fate of their families in Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7th.
The British capital has seen repeated protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, attempting to pressure Sunak's government to intervene to stop Israel targeting Palestinian civilians and to bring humanitarian aid into the stricken Strip.