Monday marked the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. It says more than half were women and children.
Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive. Israelis have experienced attacks — missiles from Iran and Hezbollah, explosive drones from Yemen, fatal shootings and stabbings — as the region braces for further escalation.
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In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which holds much of the power in parts of southern Lebanon and some other areas of the country, attacking the militants with exploding pagers, airstrikes and, eventually, incursions into Lebanon.
Israel-Hamas War
Throughout the past year, the attack and subsequent war have sparked protests and demonstrations from both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups around the world, including in the Philadelphia area.
One of those protests took place Monday afternoon, in which a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered and marched through Philadelphia.
Members of the Philadelphia Students for Justice in Palestine Coalition began gathering at Drexel Square Park on 30th and Market streets around 2 p.m. on Monday. They then marched through West Philadelphia, chanting, “Free Palestine” as they continued.
The protesters include Raghad, a Palestinian student at Swarthmore College who spent her summer in the West Bank.
“I dealt firsthand with military occupation,” she said. “I was beaten by the I.O.F. (Israel Offensive Forces). My dad had a sniper raised at him. And so what we’re fighting for is not something that’s disconnected from us. It’s something that immediately impacts students on this campus.”
Raghad told NBC10 she believes the anniversary of the Hamas’ attack was an important day for them to highlight the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people.
“We’ve been calling for a ceasefire since Oct. 7,” she said. “There’s been no action.”
Andrew Goretsky, the Philadelphia regional director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), disagrees with the anniversary of the attack being an appropriate day for the protest, however.
“It’s particularly problematic that individuals are planning anti-Israel rallies today,” he said.
Goretsky told NBC10 he still acknowledges that innocent Palestinians have been hurt during the conflict, however.
“I want peace, dignity and prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. “And I want the Hamas terrorist threat eliminated.”
Raghad, meanwhile, said she wants equal acknowledgement of the innocent people killed on both sides of the conflict.
“So what about the Palestinian hostages?” she asked. “If we want to speak about hostages we need to look at this both ways.”
