On Saturday, March 2, over 2,000 people gathered at Cambridge City Hall to call for an end to Israeli military operations in Rafah, a populated southern city in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Rafah was originally home to less than 300,000 people, and now it hosts an estimated 1.5 million displaced people who have fled there in hopes of finding shelter, according to the United Nations.
The demonstration was part of a global day of action, where millions gathered worldwide in solidarity with Palestine. In Cambridge, the crowd flooded Massachusetts Avenue and marched toward the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a second rally was held outside MIT’s Rogers Building. The demonstration lasted more than three hours.
On the same day, U.S. officials said the U.S. military delivered thousands of meals into Gaza in an emergency humanitarian aid. Protest leaders encouraged the crowd to select the “no preference” option on the Democratic ballot for Tuesday’s presidential primary election in Massachusetts. The participants closed down the streets while waving Palestinian flags, holding signs calling to “Intifada Until Victory,” “End All U.S. Aid to Israel,” and “Free Palestine.”