Dozens of North Texans demonstrated outside the Richardson offices of Raytheon Technologies Monday in protest of the company's weapons contracts in Israel — a day after Palestinian officials say 94 people seeking food and aid were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, those in attendance chanted slogans and demanded the defense contractor stop supplying military equipment to Israel amid its ongoing conflict with Hamas.
"Men, women and children are dying of malnourishment, and this is all because of an imposed famine," said protestor Sumayyah Nabali, 37, who identified herself as Palestinian. "This is not a humanitarian issue that was just like some accident that has happened."
Vicki Wright, 66, said she's come to other protests supporting Gaza over the past year and feels it's the most effective way to show her support, and to object to U.S. aid to Israel.
"I feel very hopeless, helpless about being a citizen of this country," she said.
Israel's war in Gaza began Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas fighters launched an offensive killing nearly 1,200 Israelis. A total of 255 people were taken hostage before and during the attack, 50 of whom remain in custody. Of the others, 140 people were released alive, eight were rescued alive, and 57 bodies were either returned to or retrieved by Israel.
Israel's ensuing military offensive, now going on two years, has killed almost 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The group doesn't differentiate between combatants and civilians, but said more than half of all victims were women and children.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has led to fears of starvation, with more than 9,000 children treated for malnutrition this year.
In the deadliest of this weekend's reported incidents in northern Gaza, Palestinian health and morgue officials say at least 81 people trying to grab sacks of flour from U.N. aid trucks were killed by Israeli forces.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian aid group in the region, said one of its field hospitals in Gaza City received 95 injured people — some with critical injuries — and accused the Israeli Defense Forces of targeting civilians waiting for aid.
The Israeli government didn't confirm or deny the number of victims, but said its soldiers were firing warning shots and that an "initial review suggests that the number of casualties reported does not align with the information held by the IDF." The government also accused Hamas of creating chaos.
Raytheon, one of the largest publicly traded companies in the nation, was awarded a $149 million contract to supply missiles for Israel's "Iron Dome" defense system in 2014. The system is designed to detect and shoot down low-level missiles like rockets and artillery weapons in the air.
Anti-war groups like The Palestinian Youth Movement have held similar demonstrations against the company in the past, where Arab Americans express their frustration with the U.S. government's handling of the situation. The group most recently held a similar protest back in March.
KERA News reached out to Raytheon for comment on the protest and will update this story with any response.
Fursan Abusad, 23, who has family from the region and in Libya, said these kinds of protests are an important way for him to express his feelings about the ongoing war.
"We're trying to be peaceful and we just want to see peace," Abusad said. "We want to see people be able to live and not have to starve and die and be bombed and live in a world that's not supportive of them."
Penelope Rivera is KERA's breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
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