Thousands at Saturday protest in Washington DC call for Israel-Hamas cease-fire

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Thousands of people gathered in the nation's capital Saturday afternoon to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, marking roughly three months since Israel launched its military operation following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

A sea of red and green Palestinian flags covered Freedom Plaza, just east of the White House, as marchers convened in downtown Washington, D.C., to protest Israel's ongoing military operation that has left over 23,000 people dead and more at risk of starvation and disease in the small Palestinian territory of 2.3 million people.

Demonstrators unfurled a giant Palestinian flag across the center of the square. Many in the crowd wore keffiyehs, traditional black and white Palestinian scarves.

Some demonstrators held signs reading “End the war on Gaza” and “Let Gaza Live.” Other signs criticized U.S. support of Israel and President Joe Biden, with messages such as, “End all U.S. aid to Israel.”

Several Palestinian Americans spoke to the crowd of the devastating toll the Israel siege of Gaza had taken on their families.

“President Biden has my family’s blood on his hands,” said Alaa Hussein Ali, of Michigan, whose brother was killed as he tried to evacuate to southern Gaza with his pregnant wife and children.

In addition, Ali said he lost 100 family members, including over 60 children, and half were buried under rubble from Israeli air strikes.

A group of marchers pressed to the center of the crowd, chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” to a drum beat, as others joined in.

The protest against the war was part of a global day of action, which included demonstrations in London, Paris, Rome and Dublin, the Associated Press reported.

Jewish demonstrator feels 'unique debt' to march

Brandon Heiblum, 25, told USA TODAY that as a Jewish person, he felt especially compelled to attend the march and show solidarity with Palestinians.

"As a Jew, I grew up hearing a narrative that I slowly learned was false, and I feel a unique debt as a Jew to fight against Zionism in public ways."

Heiblum said his perspectives on the conflict shifted after he spent six months in Israel on trips that were often funded by the Jewish community in his hometown of Miami.

"You go there and you see it firsthand," he said. "You see that Jews are very easily allowed to worship at the Western Wall, but the Al Aqsa Mosque has IDF soldiers everywhere."

Heiblum, who since moved from Miami to the Washington area, said he believes both a cease-fire in Gaza and a path towards Palestinian statehood are also in the best interest of Jewish people.

"Until Palestinians either have a state or full human rights, anti-Zionism will continue," he said. "Unfortunately, antisemitism will stem from that, and Jews and Israel will not be safe until we stop oppressing Palestinians."

US-backed attacks in Yemen criticized at march

U.S. and U.K.-backed attacks, including on Friday night, on Houthi rebels in Yemen threatened an escalation in the region. The Houthis, who control part of Yemen, have attacked busy shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden 28 times since late November. The Houthis maintain that the attacks are a response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

Unlike multitudes of signs reading “Cease-fire now” or “Free Gaza,” Wafa Aziz’s sign read, “Houthis are Heroes.”Aziz, 20, said she got the idea for the sign from Twitter. Houthi rebels, she said, were one of the only forces in the region “standing up for Palestine.”Ikram Mezghami, 30, who came to the march with Aziz, said she was “disappointed and angry” at the Biden administration’s decision to launch strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued an urgent call to action after the attack on sites in Yemen. The council, an organizer of the march, said the Biden administration's decision to fire on the rebel group without congressional approval risks a "regional war."

"This president is unnecessarily, illegally and dangerously risking the loss of more innocent lives – including the lives of Americans – for the sake of the genocidal Israeli government, all without approval from Congress," CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a press release.

CAIR is one of more than 200 organizations nationwide supporting the march, according to the American Muslim Task Force on Palestine, a coalition of Muslim advocacy organizations.

Marchers, organizers want an immediate cease-fire

"Our demand is simple," Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of CAIR, told USA TODAY. "Stop the violence, secure a cease-fire, secure the release of all hostages and all political prisoners, and then resume efforts to secure a just and lasting peace by ending the occupation."

The march falls two days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day and draws inspiration from "Dr. King's legacy of speaking out against the Vietnam War and rallying other Americans do the same," Mitchell said.

Two nurses from California said traveling across the country to join the march felt like the least they could do in the midst of the barrage of disturbing images of the destruction in Gaza.

“The more I see coming out of Gaza, the videos online, I'm just more and more horrified every day and I'm outraged that my tax dollars are being spent toward genocide,” Abby Wolf, 51, told USA TODAY.

“I will not be able to vote for any candidate that hasn't spoken out for a cease-fire, because I really think a cease-fire is the bare minimum at this point,” Wolf said.

“Politically, I never had less faith in our system than I do right now,” she added.

Tom Vanden Brook contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thousands at 'March for Gaza' call for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war