Thousands of people raged outside Downing Street on Wednesday after Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza the previous night. 

Protesters roared, “Stop bombing Gaza,” “Shame on you Rishi Sunak,” “Free Palestine,” “Occupation no more,” and, “Israel is a terrorist state.” One of the loudest cheers came after a speaker said, “Those in Downing Street have blood on their hands.” 

One protester, Shaz, told Socialist Worker, “There aren’t two sides to this story—Palestinians have every right to fight back. This has been going on for more than 75 years. We have social media now and you can’t deny what we’ve seen coming from Gaza. 

Shaz slammed the Tories in Britain. “They care about war crimes when it suits them and their agendas,” she said. 

Israel is trying to pass the buck for its murder of 500 people at the al Ahli hospital onto the Palestinian group Islamist Jihad, claiming it misfired a rocket. 

Hundreds are still trapped under the rubble. Protester Rubina said she joined the vigil because, “I’m simply against genocide.” “It seems Palestinian lives don’t count to our government, not even when over half the population are children,” she said. 

“There’s total hypocrisy from leaders here and media bias, and now they’re even questioning whether this was an Israeli bomb. 

“But young people especially are being mobilised from social media as the truth can’t be hidden here.” 

Israel’s far right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted after the hospital was hit, “As long as Hamas does not release the hostages in its hands—the only thing that needs to enter Gaza are hundreds of tons of explosives from the Air Force, not an ounce of humanitarian aid.”

US president Joe Biden said, while visiting Israel on Wednesday, that the explosion “appears as though it was done by the other team”.

One BBC reporter in Jerusalem, Jon Donnison, was chastised for daring to suggest that Hamas didn’t have the capacity to bomb the hospital with such force. He said to viewers, “It is hard to see what else this could be, really, given the size of the explosion other than an Israeli airstrike or several airstrikes.”

Protester Layla is from Jaffa in Palestine. “It’s great that so many other young people here are protesting,” she told Socialist Worker. “And there’s huge protests in the Middle East showing these governments don’t represent the people.”

Another protester said, “It’s ridiculous they’re trying to lie. We’re here to get the truth out. I’m Lebanese and we’ve shared struggles with Palestinians. 

“As a Muslim, and human, I’m here to make their suffering seen. Seeing all these people here makes you feel like something is possible.” 

The protest showed the growing rage at Israel and its imperialist backers in Britain and the US. Earlier in the day further student protests took place, with 500 in Leicester, 200 in Bristol and 150 at QMU in east London.

Everyone should get onto the streets on Saturday—and keep mobilising in solidarity with Palestine. 

National March for Palestine. Meet at 12pm at Marble Arch, London W1C 1CX