- Tens of thousands of anti-war activists descended on Washington, DC Saturday.
- Organizers told Insider they believed up to 100,000 people were at the march.
- Protesters held signs that read “Free Palestine!” and called on the US to stop aiding Israel.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Washington, DC, on Saturday in support of Palestinians. They marched to the White House where they chanted “Guilty!”
Thousands of protesters came to the city on buses, many of them from out of state, including as far away as Georgia and Massachusetts.
Washington, DC, is the latest city to see large pro-Palestinian rallies. Hundreds of thousands of protesters around the world have staged demonstrations in the last week, including massive protests in London, Istanbul, and elsewhere. Major cities throughout the United States have also seen rallies, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston.
Several large protests took place last weekend after the Israel Defense Forces launched its ground operation in Gaza.
Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people and kidnapped an estimated 100 to 200 people in a series of attacks in southern Israel on October 7.
In response, Israel launched punishing air strikes and a ground offensive in the densely populated Gaza Strip, a sliver of land the size of Philadelphia that is home to about 2 million people, many of them children.
The Hamas-led Palestinian Health Ministry has said that the death toll in Gaza is nearing about 10,000 people. The Ministry said thousands of those fatalities have been children. The median age in Gaza is 18.
