On Saturday, thousands of people flooded Piazza dell’Esquilino, a square in the heart of the Italian capital, to voice their support for Palestinians facing relentless lethal bombing campaigns by the Israeli military over the past days.

The initiative dubbed Save Jerusalem al-Quds from ethnic cleansing was called by a number of Palestinian associations based in Italy.

Demonstrators were holding up Palestinian flags, chanting Free Palestine and Stop the killing in Gaza.

Tel Aviv’s relentless aerial bombardment of Gaza has so far killed dozens of Palestinians and injured hundreds of others.

At the protest, representatives of anti-war and humanitarian groups have accused Tel Aviv of using abusive and wanton force against largely peaceful Palestinian protesters. Many fear the tensions in Jerusalem al-Quds will reverberate throughout the region.

Meanwhile, in the port of Livorno, in central-north Italy, workers have refused to load a shipment of arms after discovering the load was headed to Israel. Unions have said the move was in support of the Palestinians.