Local activists and elected officials gathered downtown on Monday to call for renewed attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Members of the Jewish Voice for Peace convened at Federal Plaza, calling on the U.S. government to stop arming the Israeli military and to end what the group calls “widespread starvation in the region.”
Six of their members began an indefinite hunger strike, saying “they are putting their bodies on the line to end the starvation in Gaza.”
The rally included speeches by Jewish Voice for Peace members Ash Bohrer and Seph Mozes; U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.); and state Sen. Graciela Guzman; Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez; and University of Chicago professor Eman Abdelhadi.
Throughout the rally speakers called for immediate action.
“I am launching an indefinite hunger strike until the people of Gaza are able to eat. As a Jewish person and as an American who can no longer watch the devastating images of starvation and bombing coming out of Gaza,” Bohrer said. “What we are witnessing at this moment is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportion, in which the Israeli military, backed with the political power and the arms from the United States, is carrying out a genocide.”
Ramirez told the crowd that last month she stood in front of the United States Capitol with members of Congress and national organizations to introduce the Block the Bombs Act, which aims to halt U.S. arms shipments to Israel.
“My commitment for this bill has only deepened as we continue to face unacceptable losses and horrific acts of violence I denounce today, it will continue to reject all forms of hate-fueled violence from Palestine and Israel to D.C. and Boulder,” Ramirez said. “Today, as we see escalating violence in the Middle East, I am clear that each tragedy adds to a litany of evidence that our safety and our security is interconnected. We can hold the Israeli government accountable and also affirm everyone’s right to safety and security and that includes Palestinians.”
A spokesperson for Jewish United Fund, a philanthropic organization focused on local and global Jewish needs said: “The blame for any hunger in Gaza belongs with Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza and started the current war and — true to its nature—is not only blocking aid from going through but stealing the food and selling it to its own people.”
Palestinians say they face the choice of starving or risking death as they make their way past Israeli forces to reach the distribution points, which are run by a private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza says several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in such shootings since the centers opened.
“The reality is when it comes to children, it shouldn’t matter if they’re Palestinian, Guatemalan, Venezuelan, Ukrainian or Israeli,” Ramirez said. “Children are children, and it is our responsibility to save them.”