HUNDREDS of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of central London on Saturday to mark two years since the start of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The march, assessed by organisers at over 600,000 people, came as preparations ramped up today to get desperately needed aid to Palestinians in the enclave following Friday’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas-led resistance groups.

The protest in London was the 32nd national demonstration and came after the government questioned the need for it given the truce in Gaza. Ministers say they intend to give greater powers to restrict protests by allowing the police to consider the “cumulative impact” of repeated demonstrations.

But Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said the group will never stop supporting Palestinians to “achieve a free Palestine.”

Zarah Sultana, the independent MP for Coventry South and a co-founder of “Your Party,” slammed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for switching sides on Palestine and for “locking up pensioners and priests for opposing the ban on Palestine Action.”

She told the huge rally outside Downing Street that the Home Secretary “doesn’t want to just ban demonstrations, she wants to criminalise dissent — she want to send a message that if you march for Palestine, if you speak out against genocide, if you demand justice, then the state considers you the problem. Shame on her.”

Independent MP for Islington North and “Your Party” co-founder Jeremy Corbyn told the huge rally in Whitehall that despite declaring the ceasefire in Gaza “the Israeli army killed 17 Palestinians and injured 71 over the previous 24 hours.”

He said: “Peace will only come to Gaza when Israel is forced to leave Gaza. We will be here as often and as long as it takes.”

He slapped down a scheme to install former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a “board of peace” running Gaza.

“Viceroy Blair will not bring peace,” Mr Corbyn told the Morning Star.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German compared the demonstration to the far-right “hate march” a few weeks ago.

She said: “This is what a large demonstration looks like. This is a march of solidarity. We should hold our heads up high today.”

But Ms German insisted that “a ceasefire is not enough. We want the war criminals brought to justice.”

Poplar and Limehouse MP Apsana Begum slammed the Labour government for failing to call out Israel’s genocide. “The best way to achieve a lasting ceasefire is for the government to stop arming Israel,” she said. “We must not stop marching until there is justice for the Palestinians.”

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote was among thousands of trade unionists taking part in the demonstration.

Ms Heathcote told the rally that we must all hope that the ceasefire “marks the end of the genocide, that there is a lasting peace, and that one day Palestine will be free.

“We should recognise that without our protests, without the global opposition and resistance to Israel’s genocide, that we probably would not be in this situation today.

“And that is why the right to protest is so valuable — and must be protected so intensely.”

Days ago Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that it would be “un-British” to continue the marches.

Ms Heathcote said: “If we are un-British, then so were the Chartists, so were the suffragettes, so were the anti-apartheid campaigners. And they were all proved right as well.”

Leeds East MP Richard Burgon said: “The ceasefire has given Gaza a chance to breathe. But we will not stop until there’s real peace and justice.”

Meanwhile, preparations continued today to get desperately needed aid into Gaza.

Israeli authorities say the amount of aid entering the Palestinian territory was set to increase on Sunday to around 600 lorries per day, as set out in the truce deal.

Egypt said it was sending 400 aid trucks into Gaza today.

The Egyptian Red Crescent said they carried medical supplies, tents, blankets, food and fuel. The trucks will head to the inspection area in the Kerem Shalom crossing for screening by Israeli troops.

Israeli attacks and restrictions on humanitarian aid have triggered famine in parts of the territory.

The United Nations has said it has about 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid ready to enter once Israel gives the green light.

Abeer Etifa, a spokeswoman for the World Food Programme, said workers were clearing and repairing roads inside Gaza on Sunday to facilitate delivery.

US President Donald Trump is expected to arrive in Israel this morning.

He is scheduled to meet families of the hostages, who organised huge protests against the Benjamin Netanyahu government over its long opposition to a ceasefire, and speak at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Mr Trump will then continue to Egypt, where the office of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has said he will co-chair a “peace summit” tomorrow with regional and international leaders attending.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir are both reportedly planning to be there.

Israel said today that the hostages held by Hamas and its allies since October 7, 2023, would be released early tomorrow.

Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said the release of some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel would only happen once Israel receives all the hostages.

Ms Bedrosian said: “The Palestinian prisoners will be released once Israel has confirmation that all of our hostages cross the border into Israel.”

As deals on aid and the hostage and prisoner swaps were taking their course Palestinians continued their trek back to what might be left of their homes today after the area was vacated by the Israelis.

Satellite photos taken on Saturday showed a line of vehicles traveling north to Gaza City on Al Rashid Street, which runs north-south along the strip’s coastline on the Mediterranean Sea.

The pause in fighting allowed first responders to search previously inaccessible areas for bodies buried under rubble. Health officials said 233 bodies were recovered and brought to hospitals since Friday, when the truce went into effect.

Yasser el-Bureis, who was at the morgue in Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said today he and his relatives had finally retrieved the bodies of his two cousins killed months earlier as they tried to flee their homes.

“For five months, we didn’t manage to recover the bodies,” he said.

Hospitals have run short on supplies for both the living and the dead — including body bags.