CARACAS, May 1. /TASS/. Thousands of students in Venezuela took to the streets in the capital city of Caracas on Tuesday to march in support of the Palestinian people.
Students carried posters and chanted slogans against Israeli aggression and genocide in Palestine as they walked from the Bolivarian University to the National Assembly before holding a rally.
"Palestine has been waiting 75 years for justice, defending its right to exist. Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into a graveyard of children and women. I ask how many more children must die before our independence," Palestinian Ambassador Fadi Alzaben told the rally.
He said Israel in Gaza "destroyed 500 schools and educational centers, five universities, and killed 80 university presidents."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday said "the youth of the world must take to the streets to expose the genocide of the Palestinian people [authorized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and demand immediate peace."
The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages. In response, Israel started a military operation in the Palestinian enclave to destroy Hamas' military and political organization and release all hostages. During the operation, 34,400 Palestinians were killed and another 77,600 were injured.