Pro-Palestine demonstrations in Scotland call for permanent ceasefire

Hundreds of people have attended demonstrations in Scotland calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

In Glasgow, people gathered at the Buchanan Street steps on Saturday holding signs and banners which said “ceasefire now”.

It comes amid a temporary truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict which has so far seen the release of 24 hostages by Hamas.

Egyptian officials confirmed that Hamas will later free another 14 hostages in exchange for 42 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Glasgow waved Palestinian flags and some held homemade placards with messages such as “you can’t pause a genocide” and some referencing the slogan “from the river to the sea”.

Demonstrations also took place in Edinburgh where people gathered on Waverley Bridge and events were also planned in Aberdeen and Dundee.

The Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign tweeted: “There is a pause in the genocide but the people in Gaza are suffering unimaginable horrors.

“They still need our support.”

On the first day of the four-day ceasefire on Friday, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its October 7 attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, triggering the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison.

Under the agreement, Hamas will release one Israeli hostage for every three prisoners freed.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza government.