SEATTLE — Dozens gathered at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood for a rally supporting Palestine on Friday.
On Saturday, Oct. 7, Hamas militants, which have ruled Gaza since 2007, launched a surprise attack on Israel and abducted an estimated 150 people. In that and subsequent smaller attacks, more than 1,300 people have died in Israel.
According to the United Nations, around 423,000 Palestinians had to flee their homes to avoid retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. Furthermore, authorities on both sides say strikes in Gaza have killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza and injured thousands more. More than 60% of those killed have been women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The group Answer Coalition, an antiwar movement called for Palestinian freedom and opposed the U.S. government’s aid to Israel on the group's global day of action. As a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip continues, its impacts are far-reaching, even touching those in Seattle.
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“We stand with the Palestinian resistance and against the billions of dollars the U.S. sends to Israel,” Taylor Young, an organizer for the rally said.
Clarissa Perez became friends with Karam when he was an exchange student at Chief Sealth International High School in West Seattle in 2018.
The two have stayed in constant contact since, especially once the war broke out.
“Me asking him if he survived the drone strikes the night before and he messaged me in the morning and said yeah we have,” Perez said.
Thursday night would be the last time she’s heard from him. Karam and his family are part of the more than 1 million people the Israeli military told to evacuate Northern Gaza.
“Last night at 6:22 p.m., he told me that he and his family were told to evacuate and that he would lose all access to water, electricity, food, everything. and that if I didn't hear back from him his last words were that he loved me,” Perez said.
As of Friday evening, Perez didn’t know where he was or if he was alive.
“I try not to, but I looked at the videos of the Palestinians to see if I could see my friend among any of the bodies. It’s really painful because he deserves peace and love and he's an amazing human,” Perez said.
While not knowing is tough, Perez clings to hope and community during Friday’s rally.
“I was just suffering looking at my friend's message like wow these are potentially my last words but at least here I know there are other people who understand that pain and I don't want to be alone and Karam is not alone,” Perez said.
Perez said an activist on social media has been helping to track down Karam’s whereabouts.
There is another planned rally for Palestine on Saturday afternoon.