‘Gaza is on the ground,’ says protester at act that marks one year of Israel’s genocide in Palestine

Brasil de Fato

“They’re hearing bombs,” says journalist Sarah Kalo, a Lebanese woman who has lived in São Paulo for eight years with her husband and three children – one of them, a baby just seven days old. Kalo was referring to her parents and siblings, who live in Lebanon, the most recent target of Israel’s attacks. On Tuesday evening (8), she was in front of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), on Paulista Avenue, for another act of solidarity with the victims of Israel. 

With banners and posters calling for a ceasefire and denouncing Israeli atrocities, the demonstrators walked along the avenue. The act marks one year since the beginning of the attacks, which began on October 7, 2023.

“Gaza is on the ground. The universities are destroyed. The hospitals that weren’t destroyed are in no condition to care for the wounded,” denounced Mohamad El Kadri, president of the Latin Palestinian Forum, at the start of the march to Roosevelt Square.  

As well as denouncing the violence and showing solidarity with the victims, the protesters want to put pressure on the Brazilian authorities to cut trade and diplomatic relations with Israel. “That’s why we’re building act after act across Brazil. To say enough is enough, to say no more to this genocide and to the complicity of companies, institutions, states and the Brazilian State itself as a whole,” warns Ju Sieg, an internationalist activist working for the Front in Defense of the Palestinian People.

Demonstration at Paulista Avenue marks one year of Palestinian resistance / Carolina Bataier

In one year, almost 42,000 people have been murdered in the Gaza Strip. Out of this number, 17,000 are children. The renowned journal The Lancet found that direct and indirect deaths in Gaza could reach 186,000 people. There are thousands of unaccounted bodies under the rubble created by the bombings.  

More than 97,000 Palestinians have been injured in Gaza. At least 25% of the wounded are likely to suffer life-changing injuries, including more than 15,000 cases of extremity injuries and around 3,500 amputations, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In addition to the Palestine Front of São Paulo, which is organizing the acts of solidarity, representatives of popular organizations and movements such as the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST, in Portuguese) and the Central Workers’ Union (CUT, in Portuguese) took part in the walk.

Acts in support of Palestinian people and victims of Israel

On Wednesday (9), another act was held at the University of São Paulo (USP) at 5:30pm in the geography and history building.

This Thursday (10), the act will take place at PUC at 7pm. On Friday (11), also at 7pm, there will be an activity by the PT’s Palestine Center at The Law School of the University of São Paulo.