On Saturday, Nov. 4, about 300 people marched through downtown Nanaimo calling for a ceasefire in Israel\u2019s escalating war against Hamas in Gaza. It was part of a national day of action that saw protests take place in two dozen cities in Canada.<\/p>\n
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health over 4,000 children have been killed since the start of Israel\u2019s attack on Gaza following an attack by Hamas into Israel on Oct. 7. The ministry says over 8,000 children have been injured and 1,250 are missing.<\/p>\n
On Monday, United Nations Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said that \u201cGaza is becoming a graveyard for children.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Israeli authorities, the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed 1,400 Israelis, including 31 children, and over 200 people were captured and are being held prisoner by militants in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Mimi Madrek came to Canada as a refugee from Syria in 2016, where she lost two brothers in that country's brutal civil war. She was carrying a mock corpse wrapped in a white sheet with red \u201cblood\u201d spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 4,000 kids have been killed in Gaza in less than a month and it's just so sad,\u201d she said. \u201cThose kids have dreams and lives to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Madrek says that she remembers living through airstrikes when she was a child in Syria during that countries civil war.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe left Syria because of the airstrikes and bombing and we lost my two brothers who died because they couldn't get out,\u201d she said. \u201cI've lost so many family members there. It's still going to this moment and it's really the same thing in Palestine happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salma Fargalah is from Egypt and was one of the organizers for the protest in Nanaimo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here today asking for an immediate ceasefire and to end the siege on Gaza,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd to ask Canada to stop its complicit action towards Israel with supporting it and funding it with weapons. We want this genocide to end, because this is not fair, and enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lynette Harper, is a second-generation Canadain with roots in Lebanon who was marching caring a home-made sign reading \u201cStop the genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm almost 70 years old and throughout that time the Palestinian territories have been occupied,\u201d she said. \u201cThere's been violence and so much oppression of the people there.\u201d<\/p>\n