Pro-Palestinian protesters gather in Moore Square as Israel prepares ground invasion of Gaza

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered Sunday in downtown Raleigh as Israel’s war with Hamas intensified.

Israel was attacked by Hamas militants on Oct. 7. Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians, most of whom were civilians, have been killed in the initial attack by Hamas and retaliatory airstrikes by Israel.

On Sunday, the Israeli Defense Force said it was ramping up its offensive in Gaza, which Israel put "under siege" after the attack, and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel” would be allowed into Gaza.

Officials in Israel said they are preparing for a "significant ground invasion" after giving residents in northern Gaza an order to evacuate.

Protestors at Moore Square demanded a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, while advocating for what they call "Liberation from Israel."

"Anytime we try to return to occupied Palestine, we are met with discrimination and interrogations at checkpoints," said one protester.

Protesters at the event were heard chanting “Israel has to go” and “Occupation has to go.”

While many protestors wanted Israel to leave the region, some protestors at Moore Square believe that both Israelis and Palestinians could coexist, as long as Gaza could have control over resources regulated by Israel.

“They have a right to exist alongside us,” said Omar Napulsi, a protester at the event. “But there’s a lot of conflict. Their way of existing is making sure that we’re minimalized; [that] we don’t have voices alongside them.”

The state of Israel was established in 1948, and Jewish people pulled out of Gaza shortly thereafter.

According to Rabbi Zalman Bluming, executive director of Chabad Durham Chapel Hill, Hamas, which controls Gaza, is not looking to live alongside Jewish people in the region.

“The Hamas Charter seeks to eradicate every single Jew,” Bluming explained. “It doesn’t speak about a two-state solution. It speaks about the erasure of the state of Israel.”

Both Bluming and Phil Brodsky, Executive Director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Raleigh, mourned the civilian lives lost in both Gaza and Israel, while standing firm in their belief that Israel has a right to exist.

"I believe most people in Israel [and] in the West Bank and Gaza want peace," Brodsky said. "They just want to live their lives."

The Raleigh protest Sunday was peaceful and there were no counter-protestors at Moore Square.

On Thursday, protestors on both sides of the debate gathered at UNC. The protest began peaceful but became chaotic, and dialogue between the groups was heated at times. At one point, an Israeli professor was pushed down the stairs. The professor, who said a drink was thrown at him, had to be escorted away by UNC police officers.

Over 4,000 people have lost their lives as the war approaches Day 10.