One of the organizers told the crowd: “They are all working while they see the deaths of their patients, working under constant bombardment, working as they find out about their parents being bombed. They have had to continue working even after they have been raped, stripped and put themselves in survival mode.”

A New York Police Department helicopter hovered above the crowd and a drone later joined it in the sky. As dusk fell, people held up the flashlights on their phones chanting: “We will honor all martyrs. We will fight for justice, We will fight for Gaza.” And “Gaza, Gaza you will rise, the people are by your side.”

The protest was organized by New York City Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Doctors Against Genocide, Medical Students for Justice in Palestine, Nurses Against Genocide, and Within Our Lifetime.