“We broadcast their lives, their struggle for survival, and they would have no other way to survive and feed themselves if it weren’t for the funds we raise during the vigils,” said Patrícia Batista from the Occupy for Gaza movement, during a vigil in tribute to the journalist from Qatar’s Al Jazeera, Anas al-Sharif, who was killed on Sunday in an Israeli bombing in Gaza.
About fifty people attended the vigil, which took place at Largo do Carmo in Lisbon.
Participants banged pots and listened to the last words of Al-Sharif, read by members of the organization. Along with Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, Moamen Aliwa, and Mohammad Al-Khaldi were killed while they were in a tent near Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
Patrícia Batista stated that the initiatives have been occurring weekly for nearly two years, emphasizing that it’s “important not to stand idly by in the face of the Middle East conflict” and to amplify the “movement for the defense of humanity.”
During the vigil, several participants said it is necessary to denounce and stop “the genocide in Palestine,” emphasizing it is also a fight “against oppression.”
“It’s a crime against humanity,” stated Kumpaku Pogha, highlighting that solidarity with the victims of the conflict is essential.
Sandra Miranda reminded that citizens worldwide are doing what they can, such as signing petitions, boycotting companies that “finance the genocide,” and taking to the streets to demand an end to the war.
The ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza followed unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and more than two hundred taken hostage.
The Israeli military response has caused over 61,000 deaths in Gaza, as well as a severe humanitarian crisis and the destruction of much of the territory’s infrastructure.
Israel, the United States, and the European Union consider Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, to be a terrorist organization.
