Crowd In London Protest France After British Palestinian Doctor's Entry Denied

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) — A group of protesters demonstrated outside the French Embassy in London Saturday after Paris denied entry to a famed Palestinian British surgeon who served as a doctor in Gaza soon after Israel launched its current offensive on the enclave.

The "hands off Ghassan Abu-Sitta" protest was held outside the embassy after the surgeon, who was supposed to speak at the French Senate, said he was denied entry to France due to a German ban on his entry to Europe.

During the protest, the crowd chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, expressing support for Palestinians in Gaza.

"Cease-fire now," "End the occupation," and "Decolonise Palestine" were among the signs they were holding up, criticizing support to Israel.

"I am at Charles de Gaulle airport. They are preventing me from entering France. I am supposed to speak at the French Senate today," Abu-Sitta had said on X earlier in the day.

Abu-Sitta added he was told that Germany put a "1-year ban" on his entry to Europe.

"Fortress Europe silencing the witnesses to the genocide while Israel kills them in prison," he later posted.

In April, Abu-Sitta, who worked for more than a month in Gaza, was denied entry to Germany, forced to return to the UK after landing at Berlin's airport.

He was among the speakers at the Palestine Congress, which was stormed by police in Berlin.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas incursion which killed some 1,200 people.

Tel Aviv, in comparison, has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 78,000 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the Palestinian territory.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lie in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement besides a crippling blockade on food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. -