More than 400 rally for Palestine in Downtown Memphis, demand justice for Gaza
More than 400 people gathered outside FedExForum on Sunday in support of Palestine and those still trapped in Gaza as the Israel Defense Force continues its aerial bombardment.
Led by the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC), protesters held Palestinian flags as they chanted "Free, Free Palestine" through the streets of Downtown, as they marched down Beale Street to Tom Lee Park.
One couple in the crowd said they were recently visiting family in Gaza. They left Gaza on Oct. 1, mere days before Israel declared war on Hamas.
Aiman Arafat and his wife, Adria, were visiting his family, who are currently still trapped in Gaza. Arafat said he had planned on leaving Gaza in late August, but his mother convinced him to stay a little longer. When leaving Gaza, Arafat said you cannot leave whenever you please and you have to see how many people are on a waiting list.
"It could have been six weeks before they could have given me a date," Arafat said. "It is part of the siege on Gaza."
Throughout the crowd, conversations focused on the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza, as many hospitals are not currently running because of the lack of power.
Ata Amro, who worked with community leaders to help organize the protest but is not affiliated directly with PACC, said it was not difficult to draw a big crowd because of the horrific circumstances in Gaza.
"When there's an injustice as egregious as what's going on in Gaza, it's not hard to get people to rally," Amro said.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack led by Hamas killed more than 1,400 people on Israeli soil and ignited a war that has killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run Health Ministry. As it has increased its military response, Israel ordered people in northern Gaza to move south, concentrating residents in an area without adequate food, water or other services, according to humanitarian officials.
Thomas White, the Gaza affairs director of the U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said in a statement Sunday that the current system for delivering humanitarian aid isn't working. He said displaced Palestinians are crowding into homes in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, with up to 50 people sheltering in some households.
Nabil Bayakly said what is happening in Gaza is not a war, rather a slaughter of Palestinians that is being supported by the U.S. government.
"There's one overloaded, heavily fortified side that's really bombing civilians — that doesn't look like war," Bayakly said. "If you look at Gaza right now, there is nothing but rubble."
USA TODAY reporters Trevor Hughes and Jorge L. Ortiz contributed to this report.
Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at 901-484-6225, Brooke.Muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on X/Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Pro-Palestine rally in Memphis, demands justice for Gaza and West Bank
