Chicago area Palestinians ask elected leaders to support ceasefire in Gaza
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago area Palestinian families on Thursday called on local elected leaders to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza, and call for a ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) brought several Palestinian families together in downtown Chicago, where they stood next to pictures of relatives they said are stuck in Gaza.
They said a ceasefire is the only way to ensure more innocent lives are not lost, and are calling on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and other elected leaders to support calls for a ceasefire.
"My job is in preventive medicine; to help people improve their quality of life, prevent disease and death, to have habits, but I can't even save my own family in Gaza, because we don't know if they'll die from Israeli airstrikes, or from starvation. So I'm here to call on Governor Pritzker and Congressman Sean Casten to help save our families' lives, and to call for a ceasefire now," said Nabil Alshurafa, a medical researcher in Chicago.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas' military and governing capabilities in the ongoing war, which was sparked by the militant group's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 others were taken hostage.
Israel responded with an air, ground and sea offensive that has killed more than 21,900 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli military says 173 of its soldiers have died since it launched its ground operation.
Israel also says, without providing evidence, that more than 8,000 militants have been killed. It blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, saying the militants embed within residential areas, including schools and hospitals.
The war has displaced some 85 percent of Gaza's population, forcing tens of thousands of people in overcrowded shelters or teeming tent camps in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless bombed. Palestinians say they've been left with a sense that nowhere is safe.
One person at Thursday's rally in Chicago said he has lost more than 200 relatives to Israeli airstrikes, and another said more than 60 members of his family have been killed. Others said their families in Gaza have no clean water, and no food or medicine.
Representatives of CAIR said more than 200 teachers have been killed in Gaza, and 300 schools have been destroyed.