CAPE TOWN - Thousands of chanting pro-Palestine demonstrators streamed up Plein Street in Cape Town shortly after noon on Wednesday and gathered outside Parliament&39;s main gates.

The huge crowd, which stretched through several city blocks, held aloft scores of banners and posters, calling for an end to the violence in Palestine&39;s Gaza Strip. "Israel should be wipe [sic] out of the map" and "Netanyahu: Hitler&39;s clone" were among the poster messages displayed.

The march comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel was set to "expand and intensify" its campaign against the Palestinian organisation Hamas.

The Jewish state has been conducting air strikes against the Palestinian territory in retaliation for rockets fired out of Gaza into Israel.

Palestinian officials claim at least 200 people have been killed in the air strikes, including children.

"Free, free Palestine!" the protesters chanted outside the parliamentary complex.

Posters held aloft by the crowd proclaimed: "Israel murders children in Gaza" and "Viva Palestine, Viva Hamas".

A group of men wearing taqiyah skullcaps carried a large Palestinian flag.

The march was organised by the Muslim Judicial Council.