French police disperse extremist demonstrators in Paris on October 12, 2023, protesting the Hamas-Israel conflict on October 12, 2023 (Photo: AFP/ VNA)

In Britain, large crowds held sit-down protests in London, blocking Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus before marching to and gathering in Trafalgar Square.

London’s Metropolitan Police estimated that around 30,000 attended the rally. They said 29 people were arrested for displaying a placard that could incite hatred. Rallies also took place in cities across the United Kingdom on Saturday, including in Sheffield, Manchester and Glasgow.

Thousands also marched in Paris to call for a ceasefire with placards reading “Stop the cycle of violence” and “To do nothing, to say nothing is to be complicit.”

French authorities said 19,000 people demonstrated in Paris, while the CGT communist-led trade union put the numbers at 60,000. It was one of the first, big gatherings to be legally allowed in Paris since the Hamas-Israel conflict began. The police said around 5,000 people were estimated to take to the streets in Lyon.

Berlin and Duesseldorf also saw thousands march to ask for a ceasefire in Gaza.

German police estimated the crowd at 17,000 in Duesseldorf and 9,000 in the capital Berlin, where some 60 arrests were made including on suspicion of incitement to hatred.

Thousands of protesters in the US capital Washington called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The same day, hundreds of Israelis demonstrated to demand the release of prisoners held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In another development, Gaza's Hamas movement suspended the evacuation of foreign passport holders to Egypt Saturday after Israel refused to allow some wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egyptian hospitals.

Meanwhile, Israel has released 3,200 workers from Gaza back to the coastal enclave after they were arrested and stranded following the October 7 attacks.