Sheffield Palestine Rally: Huge crowd gathers at City Hall to stand with citizens of Gaza amid Israel conflict

A huge crowd of people gathered outside Sheffield City Hall to stand in support of the citizens of Gaza caught up in the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

The war in the Middle East has captivated news audiences across the globe, with the violence claiming thousands of lives so far.

The attendees of the rally in the city centre today called for a ceasefire in the violence, which has complex history dating back to just after the Second World War.

Western nations have roundly condemned the attacks on Israel from Hamas fighters, but have more recently called for restraint from the Israeli government, as fears of further escalation in the fighting grow.

It is important to distinguish Hamas, who have been determined a terrorist organisation by the UK government, from the Palestinian citizens of Gaza, who have been bombarded with retaliatory strikes from Israeli forces in response to Hamas' surprise assault earlier this month.

Israel gave Palestinians 24 hours to evacuate Gaza to the south, before airstikes would hit the city - the timeframe was criticised by outside nations, which led to a small extension to that deadline.

The Sheffield rally, organised by the Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign, is urging for a ceasefire to be called.