(The Center Square) – More than 1,000 protestors marched through Seattle streets on Saturday as part of a global day of action for Palestine in support of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The march began at Denny Park in the city’s central business district and halted traffic on a few streets until protestors eventually ended up outside the Space Needle.
The latest in a string of pro-Palestinian protests in Seattle comes as data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shows an increasing number of Palestinians killed since Israel’s military response – bombardment from the air and a ground invasion – to the Hamas terrorist organization’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Jewish state that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians.
According to the data, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and around 71,000 have been injured since Oct. 7.
As of Feb. 29, 240 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 1,431 soldiers injured in Gaza since the beginning of the ground operation, according to the Israeli military.
During the rally in front of the Space Needle, protest leaders mentioned a Feb. 29 incident in which it is alleged Israel Defense Forces troops fired at Palestinian civilians gathering around trucks providing food aid. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 100 people were killed in the incident.
Israel and Hamas have been working on a ceasefire and hostage release deal, but have ultimately failed to reach an agreement so far.
Protestors at the march held signs calling for a ceasefire. Chants including “Down-down the occupation, up-up with liberation” and “Every time the media lies, another child in Gaza dies” rang out.
Saturday’s rally the latest in a string of notable protests in western Washington. On Jan. 6, Palestinian supporters in Seattle successfully blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 5, causing a six-mile traffic backup for about five hours.
Last year in Tacoma, 500-plus protestors went to the Port of Tacoma in an attempt to block the departure of a merchant vessel believed to be carrying weapons and military equipment to the Middle East.