Chilling echoes of the Nazis as 60 Stars of David are spray-painted over buildings in Paris, as France sees spate of anti-Semitism since Israel-Hamas war broke out

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Dozens of blue Stars of David have been found painted overnight on buildings in several areas of Paris and its surrounding suburbs.

The French capital has been rocked by a series of anti-Semitic incidents in recent days, amid tensions between communities over the Israel-Gaza conflict.

About 60 blue stars were found graffitied on buildings in Paris's 14th arrondissement overnight.

More stars were found in Saint-Ouen, a northern suburb, daubed on the home of a resident accompanied by inscriptions such as 'Palestine will overcome' amid tensions over the ongoing Israel-Gaza war in the Middle East.

Some online suggested the buildings belonged to Jewish residents, and others said the stars were a chilling echo of Nazi Germany and the Second World War.

Dozens of blue Stars of David (pictured) have been found painted overnight on buildings in several areas of Paris and its surrounding suburbs

Local mayor Karim Bouamrane called for those behind the 'anti-Semitic and racist' graffiti to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the damage to property, aggravated by the circumstance of origin, race, ethnicity or religion, according to French media outlet BFMTV.

Emmanuel Grégoire, the deputy to Paris's mayor, assured residents the stars would be removed and an investigation would be launched to find the perpetrators.

'Anti-Semitism continues to kill. We will never give up the fight,' he said.

Carine Petit, mayor of the 14th arrondissement, slammed the 'anti-Semitic and racist' tags in a press release.

'This act of marking recalls the processes of the 1930s and the Second World War which led to the extermination of millions of Jews,' she said.

'Along with the municipal team, I firmly condemn these anti-Semitic and racist acts.'

David Belliard, another local official, said the spray-painted stencilled stars serve as 'reminders of the dark hours of our history'.

The Union of Jewish Students of France agreed, saying they were designed to mirror the way Jews were forced to wear the stars by the Nazi regime.

'This act of marking recalls the processes of the 1930s and the Second World War which led to the extermination of millions of Jews,' its president Samuel Lejoyeux told AFP news agency. 'The people who did this clearly wanted to terrify,' he added.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported from France to Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War.

Of the 340,000 Jews living in metropolitan or continental France in 1940, more than 75,000 were deported and around 72,500 were murdered.

The mayor of Aubervilliers, Karine Franclet, condemned the graffiti as being 'in total contradiction with the fundamental values that we hold, including tolerance, equality and mutual respect, particularly in the current context.'

Saint-Ouen Town Hall has made a complaint to the public prosecutor.

About 60 blue stars were found graffitied on several buildings in Paris's 14th arrondissement overnight. Pictured: A woman walks along a building that has been marked with the stars

The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the damage to property, aggravated by the circumstance of origin, race, ethnicity or religion, French media reported

Emmanuel Grégoire, the deputy to Paris's mayor, assured residents the stars would be removed and an investigation would be launched to find the perpetrators

In recent days, France's president Emmanuel Macron has called for unity over the ongoing war in the Middle East, because France is home to western Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish communities.

France has banned a number of pro-Palestinian rallies, and fired tear gas and water cannons at those showing their support for those being killed in Gaza.

In total, 819 anti-Semitic acts have been reported in France since the October 7 Hamas terror attack killed more than 1,400 people in Israel.

According to BFMTV, 414 arrests have been made so far.

News of the blue Stars of David came after the the chairman of Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, derided Israel's ambassador to the United Nations for putting on a yellow Star of David patch during his address to the Security Council on Monday, saying it 'belittles both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel.'

'The yellow patch symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people when it was at the mercy of others,' Dani Dayan posted on X, formerly called Twitter. 

'Today we have an independent state and a strong army. We are masters of our fate. Today we put on our lapels the blue and white flag (of Israel), not a yellow patch.'

Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow six-pointed Star of David patches during the Holocaust in order for them to be easily identified.

Ambassador Gilad Erdan donned the patch during a council meeting on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where more than 8,500 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and food and basic supplies have dwindled sharply since Israel went to war against the territory's Hamas rulers.

Mr Erdan told the Security Council that he would wear the patch, inscribed with the words 'Never Again', until the council condemns Hamas's bloody incursion into southern Israel, which sparked the war.

Also on Tuesday, Parisian police shot an unarmed woman wearing an Islamic veil in a station who was 'threatening to blow herself up while screaming Allahu Akbar'.

The victim, who has not been named, was hit today by at least one bullet at the height of the rush hour at the Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand Metro station in Paris.

The Union of Jewish Students of France said the stars were designed to mirror the way Jews were forced to wear patches by the Nazi regime

The French capital has been rocked by a series of antisemitic incidents in recent days, amid tensions between communities over the Israel-Gaza conflict

After passengers on a suburban train alerted police, officers managed to 'isolate' the woman at the station on the capital's South Bank, leading to a stand-off.

The woman was shot around 50 minutes after armed police arrived at the station. Police said officers opened fire after she didn't respond to their warnings.

She was left in a critical condition.

It was not immediately clear if the incident was linked to the Israel-Hamas war.