Gaza Death Toll Over 530; Demonstrations Continue

Last week, 100-200 protesters demonstrated outside Senator Amy Klobuchar's Minneapolis office, despite near blizzard-like conditions, then went inside and occupied her office until Klobuchar returned to meet with them. After 20 minutes, Klobuchar stated she would not speak out to criticize Israel's continued attack, nor call for a cease fire, and left.

On January 2nd, a larger crowd of hundreds gathered at the Islamic Cultural Community Center in Northeast Minneapolis for an afternoon rally. Today, January 5, a Muslim student-organized rally will take place at the State Capitol, at 1pm, followed by a press conference at 3pm and a candlelight vigil beginning around 4:15.

Regionally, another in a continued series of several thousand-strong rallies in Chicago took place on Sunday, and a picket at the Israeli consulate is scheduled for Tuesday. In downtown Madison, a march will convene at 1pm Tuesday. Nationwide, dozens of actions continue to happen in nearly every major city, and a national demonstration has been called for Saturday, January 10.

Facing mostly peaceful protests both in Israel and abroad, the Israeli military's assault continues to mount. With the new ground invasion of Gaza beginning over the weekend, the International Middle East Media Center reported 534 Palestinians killed - mostly civilians - with 2,530 injured including 300 in critical condition as of Monday morning. The Palestine News Network reports that 107 of the deaths have been children.