Pro-Palestine rally held in Dallas day after Israel and Hamas at war
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The day after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from Gaza early Saturday, The Dallas Palestine Coalition held a rally in downtown Dallas in support of Palestinians now caught in the counter attack.
Carrying signs and flags, the group gathered Sunday on the infamous grassy knoll off Elm Street. Dallas attorney Khaled Hamideh said protestors weren't endorsing attacks from Hamas, merely reminding there's bloodshed for war on both sides.
"Hamas can be blamed for the killing, but the response from Israel killing civilians also needs to be into the equation," said Hamideh.
At least 687 Palestinians were killed in Israel's retaliatory airstrikes, including 140 children, and more than 3,700 people were wounded, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
An Israeli embassy spokesperson said Monday the death toll had risen to at least 900 Israelis, most of them civilians. Another 2,150 were reported wounded. More than 250 of the dead were Israelis who came under attack at the Supernova music festival near the border with Gaza when militants opened fire on the unsuspecting crowd. Numerous reports of young women rounded up at the rave, and raped before being executed have circulated on social media as well.
At least 11 U.S. citizens are among the dead, the White House confirmed Monday, while an unknown number of Americans remain missing.
Israeli officials also said Hamas fighters captured more than 100 hostages, including women, children and elderly people, who were taken into Gaza as captives.
Calling the attack, "terrible, horrible -- a massacre," Stacy Cushing, a regional director for the Anti-Defamation League in Dallas, said many in the community are concerned about what she calls a "rise in antisemitism."