Tens of thousands expected to march on Washington for Gaza

Tens of thousands of people from across the US are expected to take part in a demonstration in Washington, DC in support of Gaza on Saturday.

The gathering, endorsed by more than 200 organisations, will focus on the Israeli invasion of Rafah. It will take place at 12 pm at Lafayette Park in front of the White House, where attendees wearing red plan on surrounding the building with a two-mile-long red banner symbolising President Joe Biden's apparent "red line" of an Israeli invasion of Rafah. 

"This demonstration is happening in an outraged response to the Israeli invasion of Rafah and the atrocities being committed by the Israeli military, financed and equipped by US tax dollars," Walter Smolarek, media coordinator with the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), a protest umbrella group, told The New Arab.

"Biden has said this will be his red line. People will be his red line," he said. Fliers posted around downtown Washington, DC read "Biden, We Are Your Red Line".

At 4 pm at the Ellipse near the White House, activists and lawyers will hold a symbolic "People's Court of Justice" to try US and Israeli leaders for war crimes.

"The Israeli military has just carried out another horrific massacre – this time targeting a United Nations school in Gaza where refugees were sheltering. Dozens have been killed, including many children. The bombs, jets and other weaponry Israel uses to commit atrocities like this on a regular basis are provided by the United States – that’s why we are going to surround the White House on Saturday to protest at the doorstep of the war criminal Joe Biden," said Miriam Osman, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, in a press release. 

The last demonstration of this size took place in early March, days ahead of a deadline Israel had set for an invasion of Rafah. Three months on, with Israeli tanks having entered central Rafah, the situation in Gaza has deteriorated further.

Since Hamas's 7 October surprise attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people, Israel has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 85,000 others in the same time frame.

The continuous bombings have decimated the besieged enclave's healthcare infrastructure, school system, and sanitation network. Malnutrition and hygiene-related illnesses are increasingly commonplace.

Rafah, considered a safe zone in the first months of the war and which became a host for more than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians in Gaza, is now under direct attack. 

Other cities across North America, including Toronto and Los Angeles, will be holding similar demonstrations around the same time.