Hundreds in Argentina march for Israel

Hundreds of people took part in a march in support of Israel Monday in the capital of Argentina, which lost at least seven citizens in attacks by militant group Hamas that left hundreds dead.

The march took place at the corner of two streets in Buenos Aires respectively named State of Israel and State of Palestine.

"The only solution is to vacate the Gaza Strip, which originally belongs to the Jewish people," Rafael Yablonosky, a 60-year-old doctor, told AFP at the march where participants waving Israeli flags sang the national anthems of Israel and Argentina.

"I came to support all the people who are going to fight for their country, for their people and for their family," said Ronit Natapoff, a 26-year-old woman recently arrived from Israel.

Argentina is home to Latin America's largest Jewish community, with some 300,000 individuals in a population of about 45 million.

In 1994, an attack on a Jewish center in the center of Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured 300. Two years earlier, 29 died and 200 were wounded in an attack on the Israeli embassy there.

Also Monday, there was a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in the capital in support of the people of Gaza, now the target of deadly retaliation strikes.

Argentina's foreign ministry said at least seven Argentines died in the Hamas offensive, and 15 were missing.

The defense ministry has ordered an emergency operation to repatriate more than 600 Argentines to the consulate in Tel Aviv.