Protest Outside Israeli Embassy in Washington
Hundreds of protesters rally outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, where a US airman died last weekend after self-immolation in protest to the Gaza war.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC to demand a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
Demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags chanted slogans against President Joe Biden while unfurling banners saying "Free Palestine", "Stop The Invasion", "Hands Of Rafah", "Stop The Genocide", "End All US Aid To Israel", "Jews For Free Palestine", and "End All US Funding Of Israeli Apartheid."
The protesters remembered the US service member Aaron Bushnell who set himself on fire outside the embassy last week.
"The main message is 'Free Palestine.' Really, that's it. Everybody says it but it's truly what we want," one protester says.
The brutal October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, according to official figures.
Israel responded with a relentless assault on Hamas-controlled Gaza that has taken a devastating toll on civilians trapped there, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry.
Israel launched a military offensive on the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas incursion, which Tel Aviv said killed about 1,200 people.
At least 30,320 Palestinians have since been killed and 71,533 others injured besides mass destruction, displacement and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which, in an interim ruling in January, ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
