As a result of the Gaza war, following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, nationwide protests occurred across the UK. These demonstrations occurred as part of a broader movement of Gaza war-related protests occurring around the world.

Marches, rallies, sit-ins, vigils

In the following weeks during Israel's counterattacks on Gaza, a number of pro-Palestine vigils, rallies and marches were held throughout the UK. On 9 October, the Stop the War Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) attended a demonstration in which hundreds marched through London's Kensington High Street and outside the embassy of Israel. The largest demonstrations were held in London, with people from across the country in attendance: thousands marched on 14 October 2023, 100,000 on 21 October, 70,000 on 28 October, 30,000 on 4 November and 300,000 on 11 November. The 11 November march was one of the largest in the UK in years, with some estimating it was the largest since the 2003 protest against the invasion of Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands demonstrated in other parts of the country: in Scotland, including in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Forres, Dumfries and Aberdeen; in England, including in Leeds, Blackburn, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Oxford, Swindon, Bristol, Norwich, Brighton, Southampton; in Wales, including in Cardiff, Swansea, Abergavenny and Newport; in Northern Ireland, including in Lurgan, Armagh, Derry, and Belfast, where a protest was held in front of the US consulate; and in the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man.

Sit-ins were held at train stations, such as London King's Cross, London Waterloo, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central and Bristol Temple Meads. In Bristol, school children demonstrated through a series of school strikes and, in east London, high school students boycotted an assembly attended by Labour MP Wes Streeting over his party's refusal to call for a ceasefire in Palestine. At the Luton Sixth Form College, the student council was suspended for staging a walk-out. Protesters removed the Israeli flag from the roof of Sheffield Town Hall and raised the Palestinian flag; South Yorkshire Police later said this incident was a racially aggravated public order offence and a hate crime. Protesters demonstrated at the Science Museum.

On 26 November 2023, between 50,000 and 60,000 people joined in a march in London to protest against a rise in hate crimes against Jews since the attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. On 14 January 2024, approximately 25,000 people attended a rally in support of Israel in Trafalgar Square, calling for the release of the hostages held by Hamas. In September 2024, large crowds of protesters at the Labour conference in Liverpool called for a total arms embargo on Israel.

On 21 September 2024 protesters carried a 500-metre red ribbon through Brighton, representing the red line that Israel had crossed.

On the morning of 29 May 2025, several activists and actors including Steve Coogan, Toby Jones, and Juliet Stevenson gathered at Elizabeth Tower outside of the Palace of Westminster to hold a vigil that lasted more than 18 hours and read out the names of more than 16,000 children that were killed in Gaza. The vigil was organised by Choose Love.

On 9 August 2025, hundreds of people gathered in Parliament Square to protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and in opposition to the banning of Palestine Action, the Metropolitan Police states on X that they have arrested over 446 people in Parliament Square, with campaigners calling it the "largest ever mass arrest at a single protest in the British capital", five officers were injured during the arrests.

On 10 August, about 2,000 people joined a pro-Israel march through central London to show support for Israel and demanding the release of the hostage. The march was led by chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis and the Jewish organisation, Stop the Hate.

On 4 October, around 1000 pro-Palestine protesters rallied in London's Trafalgar Square two days after the Manchester synagogue attack took place. A smaller protest of about 100 people occurred near the site of the synagogue in north Manchester. At least 442 protesters were arrested for "supporting the proscribed organization" Palestine Action.

A hunger strike by eight people imprisoned for activity related to Palestine Action began in November 2025, the largest hunger strike in the UK since the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It led to the hospitalisation of several prisoners.

Petitions

Various petitions have been made to politicians and institutions with various aims, including official support of a ceasefire and financial disinvestment from Israel.

In November 2023, a petition signed by hundreds of people was presented Bristol City Council to call for a ceasefire and to light the City Hall in the colours of the flag of Palestine to express sympathy for Palestinians who had been killed or injured by Israel, as it had lit the building in blue and white (the colours of the flag of Israel) following the October 7 attacks. Also in Bristol, the same month, a petition handed to Carla Denyer, councillor for Clifton Down and co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, called for a ceasefire. Many of the signatories were children who had participated in protests outside Bristol City Hall, organised by School Strike for Palestine, a collective of local campaigners and parents.

Students, faculty and alumni of the University of Oxford petitioned the university to endorse a ceasefire. The petition garnered nearly 2,000 signatures by November 2023. On 20 October 2023, an open letter was delivered to the University of Cambridge, signed by over 1,400 students and staff. It demanded that the university denounce "inhumane measures imposed on Gaza by Israel", sever all financial ties to the Israeli Government (as it had with Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine), protect Palestinian and minority ethnic students from ethno-religious harassment and threats, and call for the preservation of academic freedoms and free speech.

In August 2025, more than 700 business figures signed a letter urging the government to prevent further acts of genocide in Gaza. The letter was created by Business Leaders for Peace.

Civil society Lawyers and legal scholars

On 13 and 16 October 2023, lawyers at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians issued notice to prime minister Rishi Sunak, leader of the opposition Keir Starmer, and Labour politicians Emily Thornberry and David Lammy, outlining their intention to prosecute politicians who might aid and abet war crimes. The notices were issued following statements by Starmer and Thornberry, Shadow Attorney General, that appeared to justify the war crime of collective punishment based on "Israel's right to defend itself". The letters were written by the group's co-chairs, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt and lawyer Tayab Ali, a partner at Bindman law firm.

Eight prominent British Jewish lawyers – Lord David Neuberger, Philippe Sands KC, Richard Hermer KC, Danny Friedman KC, Anthony Metzer KC, Jon Turner KC, Adam Wagner and Sandra Fredman — wrote a letter, dated 17 October, to the Financial Times expressing "significant concerns" over Israel's conduct in Gaza, noting that "[i]t would be a grave violation of international law to hold them [that is, the two million residents of Gaza] under siege and whilst doing so deprive them of basic necessities such as food and water", that "collective punishment is prohibited by the laws of war", and that it was not "insensitive or inappropriate" to remind Israel of its obligations. The same day, 39 legal scholars from British universities, including Phil Scraton, Professor Emeritus at Queen's University Belfast's School of Law, wrote to Keir Starmer asking him to clarify Labour's position on war crimes – particularly collective punishment – in light of Starmer's statement on LBC Radio that Israel had the right to cut off water and electricity to Gaza.

Two days before, British scholars of law, conflict studies, and Holocaust and genocide studies, including Alison Phipps, UNESCO chair at the University of Glasgow, Nadine El-Enany, Professor of Law at the University of Kent, and Damien Short, professor of human rights at the School of Advanced Study, had been among signatories of a statement, published on the Third World Approaches to International Law Review website, stating they felt "compelled to sound the alarm about the possibility of the crime of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip".

Later that month hundreds of lawyers signed an open letter, dated 26 October 2023, to the British government expressing concern over breaches of international law by Israel, calling for it to press for a ceasefire and stop arms sales to Israel. Signatories included Geoffrey Bindman KC, a solicitor specialising in human rights law, Andrew Hall KC, former chair of the Criminal Bar Association, and Theodore Huckle KC, former Counsel General for Wales, along with partners and directors of law firms and professors of law. In November 2024, an Israeli academic, Haim Bresheeth, was arrested in London for alleged hate speech after giving a speech at a pro-Palestinian rally.

Charities and NGOs

British charities and NGOs join in calls for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be provided in Palestine. Ahead of the Global Food Security Summit in London, the heads of 12 charities wrote to the Prime Minister, urging him to use his opening remarks at the summbit to "call for an immediate ceasefire, condemn Israel's ongoing siege and insist that food, fuel, water and other aid vital for survival is allowed into Gaza with immediate effect". The charities included Oxfam, War Child, Christian Aid, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Islamic Relief, CAFOD, Council for Arab-British Understanding, Humanity & Inclusion, Plan International and Action Against Hunger. Medical Aid for Palestinians organised a protest outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Lancaster House, where a Global Food Security Summit was being held, attended by the prime minister Rishi Sunak, Minister of State for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell and newly appointed foreign secretary David Cameron. Protestors held signs saying, "Feed Gaza, Ceasefire Now", highlighting the food and water insecurity experienced by people in Gaza due to Israel's siege and bombardment.

Save the Children and Islamic Relief, who had teams in Israel and Palestine, called for a ceasefire because people in the region, including their staff, were terrified, and so that aid could be provided. Amnesty International said the government's and Labour's refusal to condemn Israel diminished the gravity of the war crimes committed by the state. The charity called on British politicians to "explicitly oppose all war crimes" committed by Palestinians and Israel.

The Refugee Council, Safe Passage International, Doctors of the World, the Helen Bamber Foundation, City of Sanctuary and other NGOs raised concerns about the crisis, particularly for Palestinian refugees, and drew up a plan for the resettlement of Palestinian and Israeli refugees modelled on the government's initiative for Ukrainians following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins said a Palestinian refugee scheme was "not the right response because we need to keep the pressure on this terrorist organisation to stop their hostilities, to release hostages and to come back to the diplomatic negotiating table. At this stage, I'm not sure that another humanitarian route is the answer".