Vigil near GWU honors victims of Israeli-Hamas conflict
WASHINGTON - Students at George Washington University held a vigil near campus on Monday evening to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Around 100 people gathered at James Monroe Park, near the GWU campus, to remember the thousands of Palestinians and Jews who have died over the past year, and to call for an end to the violence in the Middle East.
The majority of the group consisted of pro-Palestinian protesters, highlighting the thousands of Palestinian civilians killed in the ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict.
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The attack, which took place on Oct. 7, 2023, saw Hamas launch a surprise cross-border ambush, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and injuring thousands more.
Hamas also kidnapped around 250 people, taking them as hostages. In response, Israel declared war, leading to thousands of Palestinian deaths in Gaza over the past year.
The group from GWU, Students for Justice in Palestine, used the vigil as a platform to call for the university to divest from companies they claim are linked to what they described as "genocide."
"We are here to commemorate that, but also push our demands forward that our universities divest from death, divest from the companies that fund that genocide," said one of the group's spokespeople. "Our main call is an arms embargo to Israel."
The event was peaceful, with several D.C. police officers present to ensure security. There were no arrests.