On Tuesday, members of New Jersey’s Palestinian community shared harrowing stories of the family members they have lost in the Israel-Hamas war and called on President Joe Biden and other elected officials to demand for an immediate ceasefire in the region.
“Our family who are still alive have no water, no electricity, no food or medicine because of a blockade,” said Najla, whose relatives died in the war. “We all know that they need food. We all know that they need medication. We see it. We hear it. You hear in our voices and you see it. But we’re not letting it in. We as humans are making decisions on when these Palestinian people get to live or not. And we are standing here and letting it be.”
Noreen, another resident said “My cousin and her 12-year-old sister and my other cousin who is a doctor were all killed by Israeli shelling and snipers. [Her cousin] was the most beautiful Palestinian girl who loved things like hip-hop and Billie Eilish.”
The Israel-Hamas war has claimed as many as an estimated 20,000 lives since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel that took more than 1,000 lives. New Jersey is home to one of this country’s largest Palestinian communities, many of its families directly impacted by the war.
Palestinian advocates said Tuesday that they have been hard at work reaching out to every New Jersey official they can about the plight of their relatives. “Long before we’ve been calling our elected officials to support a ceasefire,” said Dina Sayedahmed from CAIR-NJ. “Menendez, Booker, Sherrill, every single representative we’ve met with them and we called them.”
“Please save what’s left of my family,” said Duaa, a Palestinian American woman.
