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About 80 protesters gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in the Loop Thursday to pray for starvation to end in Gaza and demand the United States pull its financial support for Israel.<\/p>\n
Members held protest signs that read \u201cAmerica stop funding genocide\u201d and \u201cEveryone in Gaza is starving\u201d while leading prayers and sharing their message for peace. Some shared stories of people<\/a> they lost, before and in the 22 months of the war that began with a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n Led by the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church, the group included members of his South Side church, Muslim civil rights nonprofit CAIR-Chicago and Jewish Voices for Peace, among other organizations. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are here today to call for a cease-fire. We are here today to demand a release of all hostages,\u201d Pfleger said. \u201cWe are here today to demand an end to the genocide and ethnic cleansing that [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has ordered. And we\u2019re here to demand that the Trump administration stop funding and being co-conspirators of this genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN World Food Program estimates that 470,000 Palestinian people are enduring famine-like conditions<\/a> and 90,000 women and children need urgent nutrition treatment. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not fair, and it\u2019s not human either. I don\u2019t think anybody should live like this, especially in hunger and constant fear,\u201d said St. Sabina parishioner Hannah Edmonson, 19.<\/p>\n Vera Avery, a 91- year-old parishioner, said the U.S. should stop giving monetary aid to Israel. <\/p>\n \u201cI came here today because of a very desperate need for justice for the people in Palestine and also to pray for what\u2019s going on … but still, I wanted to pray for him [Netanyahu] that somehow, his mind and his heart might be changed a little bit,\u201d Avery said. <\/p>\n In a statement, Renie Schreiber, Director of Public Diplomacy at the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, said the country, \u201ctakes the humanitarian situation in Gaza seriously and works closely with the U.S. and the international community to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid. Every day, hundreds of aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip.\u201d <\/p>\n The statement said Hamas \u201cstill holds 50 Israeli hostages<\/a> for 670 days now, and deliberately starves them. Hamas must release all the hostages now to bring an end to the war.\u201d<\/p>\n