France's president urges an end to arming of Israel amid more protests in Europe

“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” Macron said in an interview with France Inter.

He also confirmed that France is no longer sending arms to Israel.

The comments put France at odds with the US, which gives Israel €3.4 billion in military aid every year as part of a 10-year agreement.

As Macron spoke, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters were gathering in central Paris to demand an end to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Rome, Brussels, London and Athens, thousands more were protesting on Saturday afternoon, nearly a year to the day when the war first broke out.

Massive rallies are planned in several European cities, with the largest gatherings expected from Saturday to Monday. Events will peak on Monday, the anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel.

By midday Saturday, thousands had gathered in central London’s Russell Square amid a significant police presence. Some of the march’s organisers had said they planned to target companies and institutions they claimed were “complicit in Israel’s crimes,” including Barclays Bank and the British Museum.

Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a police cordon. Two people were arrested, London's Metropolitan Police said.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Britain, said he and others will keep organising marches until action against Israel is taken.

“We need to be out on the streets in even bigger numbers to stop this carnage and stop Britain being drawn into it,” Jamal said.

In Rome, a few thousand demonstrators gathered in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests in the Italian capital, citing security concerns. Protesters chanted, “Free Palestine, free Lebanon.”

Rallies are also taking place in other parts of the world. In the Philippines on Saturday, dozens of left-wing activists protested near the US Embassy in Manila, where police prevented them from getting closer to the seaside compound.

Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities amid concerns that the escalating conflict in the