READ HERE: Israeli flags have been torn down and set on fire in several cities across Germany, local media reported, citing police and officials. The banners were hung outside city halls and other public buildings in solidarity with the Jewish state, which suffered a deadly attack on October 7 by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas.

In the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Wurttemberg alone, flags were vandalized in at least 12 cities, according to the news program Tagesschau. On Monday night, a man removed the Israeli flag hoisted on a pole outside the city hall in Aachen and set it ablaze. In Witten, the flag was taken down twice, most recently on Friday night, while the flag hoisted outside a Protestant church in Bad Saeckingen was pelted with eggs.