Taiwanese protest attacks on Gaza, urge government to stop selling arms parts to Israeli, US firms

Hundreds of Taiwanese protested on Sunday, demanding an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and urging their government to stop selling weapons parts to Israeli and US companies.

Despite the rain, protesters from various civic groups marched from Liberty Square to the Control Yuan in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, TaiwanPlus News reported.

Demonstrators carried Palestinian flags, banners and placards, condemning Israel's attacks on Gaza and chanting slogans such as "Free Palestine" and "Freedom for Gaza." They also called for an "immediate cease-fire" in Gaza.

When the rally passed near the Taipei outlet of a well-known US fast food chain, protesters chanted slogans to boycott it.

Protesters also demanded that the Taiwanese government immediately end any support for Israel and halt the sale of weapons components to US and Israeli companies.

More than 37,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 85,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.