A protest calling for the government of Malta to immediately recognise the State of Palestine is taking place in Valletta.

There is no better time to recognise the State of Palestine than now, Palestinian Ambassador to Malta Fadi Hanania said as he spoke to a crowd of protestors outside of Castille on Tuesday evening.

Hanania remarked that the international community has betrayed 2 million people living in Gaza, who he continued only wanted freedom for their people, and to end 77 years of occupation and struggle. He said that Israel has stopped the basics of life, referring to food and water aid, from entering Gaza, as he then spoke of how the root of the problem is occupation.

The Palestinian ambassador said that Palestine is waiting for Malta to declare it full recognition of an independent Palestinian state, as he commented that there is no better time to do so than now.

Protestors began their March from Triton Fountain, and stopped in front of Parliament, banging pots chanting "free, free Palestine."

Andre Callus of Moviment Graffiti, speaking at the protest, said that people have an obligation to see and be aware of what is happening in Gaza.

"Children are dying of hunger in front of us... This injustice without precedent is happening, it is there... Sometimes it feels like hope is leaving us, we have been seeing these images for two years now, and it is as if they never stop.  But then we know that we cannot afford to lose hope. Hope needs to remain, and hope is coming from 77 years of resistance from Palestinians who have faced every type of cruelty and have kept resisting."

Callus said that hope is present in the people who are calling out and taking action against governments of countries who are complicit in the genocide, as he then commented that the protest is an example of such action being done in Malta.

He said that Malta is ashamed to have Roberta Metsola in a high position within the European Union and shaking hands with war criminals, as he then remarked that Prime Minister Robert Abela is also a source of shame due to his meaningless words, which Callus said "do no good for anyone when there are 60,000 or more Palestinians who have been massacred". Callus stated that there is need for action.

He said that Malta alone cannot stop the genocide, but that it can do things which it currently is not, as he then went over the three requests being highlighted by the protest.

Callus said that the first request is for Malta to sanction Israel and condemn the genocide, and continued that the second request is for Malta to prohibit any ship flying the Maltese flag from transporting war or military material to Israel.

The third request, he said, is for Malta to recognise the State of Palestine. "The opportune time to recognise the Palestinian state is now. Grow a spine, this is the basic minimum," he remarked, as he added that the Israeli government is only able to do what it has been doing due to complicity.

President Emeritus Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, who is the President of the Mediterranean Children's Movement, also spoke at the protest, where she delivered a speech in which she described the situation in Gaza as collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and state-sanctioned terror.

"What is happening in Gaza is not a conflict, it is not a complex political situation, it is the targeted dismantling of a people, it is the industrialised cruelty of one of the most militaries on Earth turned against the most vulnerable population," she said.

Political figures present at the protest included Labour MP Carmelo Abela, Opposition MPs Albert Buttigieg, Mark Anthony Sammut, and Mario de Marco, as well as ADPD Chairperson Sandra Gauci and Momentum Chairperson Arnold Cassola. Former MEP Cyrus Engerer was also present.