The tribute was part of the 12th annual commemoration organised by the Dutch group Plant an Olive Tree (Plant een Olijfboom) on Sunday, June 2, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Images and videos of the display went viral on social media, capturing rows of children’s shoes, teddy bears, and banners reading “Let Gaza Live”, arranged across the public square. During the event, the names and ages of the children who lost their lives were read aloud.

Esther van der Most, Director of the Plant an Olive Tree Foundation, told Anadolu,
“We have organised similar displays across the Netherlands. It is unacceptable that this continues and that we must still draw attention to the killing of children. Israel must be stopped. This cannot go on. We will keep fighting until this ends.”

“The Dutch government isn’t doing enough. The only effective solution now is strong sanctions. Diplomatic efforts alone are no longer sufficient. This isn’t just about the past year and a half — the Israeli regime has enjoyed decades of impunity, leading to what is now a genocide of the Palestinian people. Historically, the Dutch state has been on the wrong side, and that must change.”

This is not the first such initiative. In March 2024, 14,000 pairs of children’s shoes were arranged in Vredenburg Square, Utrecht, in protest against the war on Gaza.

Protesters clashed with police in London’s Trafalgar Square on Monday at a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine Action. The crowd moved towards police when officers tried to detain someone, while protesters chanted “let them go”.

It would be illegal for anyone to promote Palestine Action or be a member. Those who breach the ban could face up to 14 years in prison.

Activists from the group broke into a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in central England last week and claimed to have damaged two military aircraft to protest against the UK government’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

There has been condemnation of the government’s move on Monday. Labour Party MP Apsana Begum said: “Proscribing Palestine Action as ‘terrorists’ while continuing to send arms to a state that is committing the gravest of crimes against humanity in Gaza is not just unjustifiable, it is chilling. The ongoing crackdown on the right to protest is a threat to us all.”

Weekly protests in the UK have drawn tens of thousands of people opposed to Israel’s war on Gaza and its besieged and bombarded population, as well as Britain’s supply of weapons to the Israeli military, which the government says it has suspended but still continues.