About 30 people gathered for a vigil for Palestine in the Henderson Campus Center lobby on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 15, holding a moment of silence and beginning to write the names of young children killed in the current Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
“We are here because we care, and I thank you for caring with me,” organizer Julia Sonen, ’24, told attendees.
The vigil was the latest in a series of student events aimed at raising awareness of Israel’s current invasion of Gaza. Israeli forces have killed more than 28,600 people since Oct. 7 — including around 2,600 since a Jan. 26 student demonstration on the Gator Quad, organizer Syd Hammerman, ’25, told attendees. Israel has defended its actions, which have been called a genocide by scholars and human rights advocates, as justified retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by militant group Hamas that killed just over 1,100 Israelis. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Hammerman also spoke of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli troops while traveling with her family. When Hind’s body was found earlier this week, Hammerman said, Hind’s mother received it with a pink bag filled with notebooks Hind had been using to practice her handwriting.
This hit home for Hammerman when they were writing a sentence for their Arabic homework.
“This sentence began with the name Hind,” Hammerman said. “My stomach knotted, and I had to put the assignment away for a bit. How was I supposed to move on from her, and from all of Gaza?”
After the speeches came a moment of silence, and then attendees were invited to write out a partial list of children killed in the invasion on a series of banners, divided by age. The names ran from ages zero to five because the average age of a child killed in Gaza is five years old, Hammerman said.
The vigil will continue for another two days, Hammerman said, from 1 to 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16, and Saturday, Feb. 17.