March to Capitol to call for cease-fire in Gaza
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Thousands of people marched to the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, marking the fifth week of Twin Cities protests condemning Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Israeli forces began air strikes on Gaza after members of Hamas launched attacks on towns in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
As result, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-led Ministry of Health in Gaza, with near half of Gaza housing reportedly destroyed or damaged and over half of Gaza hospitals shut down.
An organizer with American Muslims for Palestine read emotional messages from hospital staff in Gaza.
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"We as medical staff want to leave but we cannot. We might not survive until the morning. We don't want to be killed here, just only because we remain committed to our patients and our medical profession. I'm calling for … help urgently,” she relayed.
The World Health Organization on Saturday called for “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza” after losing contact with Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, amid reports of the hospital being attacked by Israeli forces.
Israel government officials say it is targeting Hamas, not the Palestinian people, but protestors described the situation as an “ethnic cleansing of Palestine.”
“This is genocide, clear and simple,” said Melanie Yazzie, a citizen of Navajo Nation, and an organizer with Native American advocacy group, The Red Nation.
Yazzie drew parallels between U.S. and Israeli government tactics. “Palestinians resist the same colonial system that Native people have been resisting for five centuries,” she said.
Saturday’s rally was organized by a diverse coalition of over a dozen groups who say they will continue to hold peaceful actions until a cease-fire is called and military occupation by Israel of Palestine has ended.
The crowd packed down John Ireland Boulevard in St. Paul on the brisk, fall day waving dozens of Palestinian flags. Signs read “Let Gaza Live” and “End Apartheid.”
They also called for the end of U.S. aid to Israel, amid congressional debate over whether to fund $14.3 billion in military assistance to Israel.
The event was centered by a display of hundreds of small flags bearing the names of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli forces.
