Hundreds of Palestine activists protest Israel in Philadelphia amid Gaza peace negotiations

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Hundreds of supporters of a free Palestine rallied at Rittenhouse Square on Thursday to condemn Israel’s Gaza occupation and demand an immediate cease-fire. The rally, dubbed “All Out for Gaza,” was organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition, which was birthed last October when Israel invaded Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

“We stand with the resistance and support Palestine, not AmeriKKKA! We don’t celebrate the legacy of genocide, colonialism, and slavery that July 4th symbolizes, but struggle for true LIBERATION for all 🇵🇸🇵🇸,” the organizers said on their Instagram post.

Protesters said they see “hypocrisy” behind Independence Day.

“This country emphasizes freedom and independence, but the truth is its only independence for whites,” Besan Ahmad, an organizer, told WHYY News.  “And the independence of those whites came from Black, brown and Indigenous people.”

Jack McKernan, a home care assistant who joined the protest, added that it was an appropriate day to exercise First Amendment rights.

“It’s the day we got our freedom to do it,” he said. “As flawed as the Founding Fathers were, they signed a document today that said, ‘Hey, we can freely protest,’ so why not today?”

More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the nine-month war in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to hold hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack.

The United States has been supporting a United Nations–endorsed plan, which allows for the Israeli army’s withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages still held by Hamas. However, both sides in the conflict are only now showing any support for the proposal.

Rally organizers and participants were not hopeful that the new proposal would bring lasting peace.

“I think that plan is plain hypocrisy because you can’t introduce a plan like that while still funding a genocide,” Ahmad said. Ahmad pointed out that the plan involves the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli prisons, but thousands are currently imprisoned under Israel’s military and national security laws, many without being charged.

She added that there have been such plans before, but that there’s never “any follow through.”

After the rally in Rittenhouse Square, the group started marching around the streets of Center City chanting “Free free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Philadelphia, like many other cities in the U.S., has seen regular protests over Israel’s invasion of Gaza and counter-protests by pro-Israel supporters. Students at Penn organized an encampment in the spring that was disbanded by the university with police arresting 33 students.