Sydney’s city center has once again become a bastion of resilience and defiance, with thousands rallying to demand justice for Palestine. Pro-Palestine activists say the atrocities go beyond the battlefield. They say Israel is attempting to erase generations of Palestinian identity.
One protest organizer, Josh Lee with the Palestine Action Group, said: “They don’t include the many, many, many tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, more Palestinians, on top of that that have been killed through deliberate policies of starvation, of destruction of the medical system, of disease, again caused by Israel’s actions.”
At the heart of the protests is the demand for the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza, abducted by Israeli forces.
Health professionals leading the rallies are calling for immediate accountability, describing this as a targeted attack on Gaza’s already collapsing healthcare system.
A doctor who joined the group in Sydney told reporters: “My healthcare colleagues in Gaza have had to turn to social media channels to beg for help from the West, because our government is not doing what it should do. We’re signatories to the Geneva Convention and what’s happening in Gaza, to the Gaza healthcare system, and the Gaza healthcare workers, is a war crime.”
Protesters say Israel’s actions have devastated not just lives, but entire generations. They pointed out that Gaza remains under a crippling blockade, cutting survivors off from basic necessities. The systematic destruction of homes, schools and hospitals has left those who lived through the bombing struggling to rebuild their shattered lives.
As starvation looms in Gaza, Sydney demonstrators said they are demanding urgent international intervention. With food and medical supplies blocked, children are dying of hunger, and families are forced to ration scraps of bread. Protesters warn that the global silence in the face of this humanitarian disaster has made the world complicit in genocide.
For over 70 Sundays, Sydney residents have gathered to demand justice and show unwavering support for Palestine.
The protests are raising a pressing question; when will the world finally break its silence on what many call the worst genocide of our times and when will international organizations, like the UN, take action to stop the massacre in Gaza?
