EXTINCTION Rebellion activists placed hundreds of children’s shoes on Trafalgar Square as they called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

A parents’ subgroup from the environmental organisation on Saturday read out the names of all 4,100 Palestinian children killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza as well as the 26 Israeli children killed by Hamas attacks on Israel.

Other parents placed sheets of paper listing the names of the dead next to the rows of empty shoes at the London landmark before a moment of silence was held at 11am in their memory.

Julie, a mother from XR Families, said: “We are calling for an immediate ceasefire. As UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: ‘Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children.’

“As parents with children of our own, we say that the violence must stop now.

“The empty shoes are a symbol of the absence of the thousands of children who have been the innocent victims of this war, representing all the young lives that have been cut short, unfulfilled.”

Jilly, a grandmother who also took part in the action, said: “I look at my healthy, happy children and grandchildren and feel such anguish for the families whose children have been killed in Gaza and Israel.”

Alexia, mother of two, added: “Looking at those empty shoes and reading the names of the thousands of children that have been killed in Gaza, makes my heart bleed — it could be my children.

“Our politicians are once again showing their lack of humanity.

“It is unbelievable that neither Conservative nor Labour leaders have asked for a ceasefire when the level of killing has been so indiscriminate.

“It is deeply hypocritical to commemorate Remembrance Day while we are allowing a genocide to happen in Gaza.”