‘Hands off the Middle East’: Raleigh protesters call for end to Gaza war

Hundreds of demonstrators filled Moore Square in downtown Raleigh on Sunday, joining rallies nationwide calling for an end to the war in Gaza.

The “Rise Up for Gaza” rally began shortly after 3 p.m., with participants circling around the square chanting “hands off the Middle East” and “free Palestine.”

At about 4:30 p.m., protesters marched through downtown, stopping at the legislative building before returning to Moore Square about an hour later.

The demonstration took place two days before the second anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7, 2023.

The rally was organized by the North Carolina network of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which describes itself as a group of Palestinian and Arab youth in the state committed to the “liberation of our homeland.”

The war stems from decades of conflict over land between Israel and the Palestinians, centered on the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, with both sides citing historical ties as the basis for their claims.

Lisa Thalji, a 62-year-old from Wake county said she is a Palestinian-American “who feels deeply for what’s happening.”

“We are watching a genocide 24/7,” and I’m rallying in “support of a free Palestine and the end of the genocide and the release of the hostages that Israel just captured,” she said.

A United Nations commission of inquiry has said that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are scheduled Monday in Egypt on a new U.S. plan to end the war, The Associated Press reported Saturday. Activists, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were detained by Israeli forces aboard a flotilla trying to reach Gaza and some have alleged mistreatment by Israeli guards, including to Thunberg, according to the AP.

The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, entered Israel and launched a terrorist attack that killed more than 1,200 Israeli civilians, with 240 hostages taken.

Since then, Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in media say more than 1,600 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, the majority during the attack and its aftermath, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. An estimated 48 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza.

Following the Hamas attack, Israel has dropped thousands of bombs and launched several assaults in Gaza. Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 168,000 injured since the start of the war, the United Nations reported.

“People have the power — we stand for peace, unity and humanity, and we’ll use our voices and bodies however we can,” Emily Gaeta, an organizer with CodePink NC, a women-led grassroots anti-war group, told The News & Observer.

She said the North Carolina chapter formed in December 2024 in response to the situation in Gaza and highlighted local ties — pointing to UG Solutions, a North Carolina–founded company with contractors at Gaza aid sites that has faced controversy, as well as ammunition shipments routed through the Wilmington port destined for Israel.

Humanitarian efforts hampered

People in Gaza are facing dwindling food, water and health care, with UN and its partners unable to provide large-scale relief. Many aid groups have suspended operations. Environmental damage has also sharply worsened since June, UNOCHA reports.

According to a news release from the local network, the march called for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian access to Gaza, an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel, the release of Palestinian prisoners and an “end to collective punishment,” and “an end to decades of occupation, displacement and settler violence.”

Anthony Aguilar, a retired U.S. Army soldier who resigned from his work as a subcontractor for UG Solutions on the Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

On Sunday he was among speakers who addressed ralliers in front of the North Carolina legislative building.

“Rest assured, what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. I have seen it. I have fought for 25 years, and I know what it is,” Aguilar said. “The American people have a voice, and we’re no longer going to stand to send bombs to be dropped on children, to send bullets to be fired at children, and to kill the unarmed civilians.”

He added, that the peace deal proposed by the Trump administration is not “going to be peace. Do not be fooled. This is just another measure to give Israel a way to continue to kill every Palestinian in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The Raleigh protest is part of an “International Day of Action,” according to a post on social media from the PYM, which describes itself as a transnational, independent grassroots organization.

This story was originally published October 5, 2025 at 4:27 PM.

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi

The News & Observer

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi is a politics reporter for the News & Observer. She reports on health care, including mental health and Medicaid expansion, hurricane recovery efforts and lobbying. Luciana previously worked as a Roy W. Howard Fellow at Searchlight New Mexico, an investigative news organization.