Aidan Reilly/Daily Mining Gazette Demonstrators hold signs in solidarity with Palestine, Tuesday at the Houghton Veterans Memorial Park.

A group of 20 Copper Country residents gathered at the Veterans Memorial Park in Houghton Tuesday evening to show support for Palestine and condemn and mourn the violence taking place in Israel and Gaza over the past two weeks which has claimed lives on both sides of the conflict.

Chants focused on the plight of the Palestinian people in their ongoing conflict with the Israeli government and refuted the multinational support in the form of military aid from governments including the U.S. to support the Israeli government.

Eli Haber, treasurer of Keweenaw Socialists, a community organization, helped to coordinate the event.

“The global outpouring of support for the Palestinian people as they’ve been killed by the thousands in Gaza has been really inspiring, especially considering the personal and professional consequences for expressing basic solidarity with the Palestinian people. A lot of people are unjustly smeared as terrorist sympathizers or extremists or anti-semites, which is nonsense. I’m Jewish and a lot of my fellow Jews have been out in the streets all across the country and around the world protesting the bombing of Gaza,” Haber said.

Since the war began on Oct. 7, the Associated Press reports it has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Gaza Health Ministry accounted for the deaths of 2,778 Palestinians and another 9,700 have been wounded. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza according to Israel.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza say an Israeli airstrike Tuesday claimed the lives of 500 people. Israeli authorities deny involvement in the explosion.

Israel told Palestinians to evacuate Northern Gaza over the weekend ahead of an anticipated ground assault. The Associated Press reports thousands of people attempting to escape Gaza at Rafah, the territory’s only border crossing to Egypt. Mediators are calling for an agreement to let aid in and refugees with foreign passports to be allowed out.

A summit was planned for Wednesday in Jordan between Arab leaders and Joe Biden, but has since been called off following the reports of the deadly explosion at the hospital in Gaza. Biden will only visit Israel and will postpone travel to Jordan.