Religious leaders of various faiths held a vigil Sunday night in Logan Square honoring Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza.
The vigil, organized by Chicago Healthcare Workers for Palestine and Chicago Cultural Workers for Palestine, a collective of library and museum workers and artists, was held at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square, 3325 W. Wrightwood Ave.
The groups called for a halt to the fighting in Gaza and denounced military operations against hospitals in the area. Israel has claimed Hamas militants use hospitals as bases. The groups also demanded more humanitarian aid be allowed into the area.
Dr. Imran Akbar, an anesthesiologist at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said he visited Gaza in 2019 on a humanitarian mission.
He said he saw first hand the region’s limited health care options, lack of job opportunities and over-dependency on foreign aid. The war has only made conditions worse, Akbar said.
“After the war that started on Oct. 7, you take that and you multiply that 100 fold,” Akbar said, adding that hospitals, especially, “need supplies but none of that is getting in.”
The U.S. has been pressing Israel for weeks to let greater amounts of food, water, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Dec. 22 calling for an immediate increase in deliveries. Three weeks ago, Israel opened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, adding a second entry point for aid after Rafah, which links Gaza and Egypt.
On Saturday, U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, both Democrats, visited the Rafah crossing and pointed to the cumbersome process of Israeli inspections that they say is slowing the flow of aid into Gaza.
Israel says the inspections are necessary to prevent military materials from reaching Hamas.
Other than aid through the crossings, Israel has barred the entry of supplies since its assault on Gaza began three months ago, aiming to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
More than 22,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel during the initial Hamas attack, and at least 170 soldiers killed in the ground invasion, the Israeli military said. Nearly 240 hostages were seized on Oct. 7.
At the vigil Sunday, Imam Tariq El-Amin of Masjid Al-Taqwa praised the resilience of the Palestinian people who have lost loved ones in the war.
“They are losing their family members, they are losing their children, they are losing their parents,” El-Amin said. “And their response is that we believe in God, and we turn to God in this time of affliction,” he said, referring to their unwavering faith.
Deepa Singh, of Chicago Sikhs for Ceasefire, says it is in the fabric of her religion to “see each other as the same,” which means the Palestinian struggle is also their struggle.
“The Palestinians are one of us, and this is just as much our fight as it is theirs,” Singh said. “How can we be quiet when we see what’s happening over there?”
Rabbi Brant Rosen of Tzedek Chicago offered a prayer for the people of Gaza, urging people not to become accustomed to the daily death toll in the region.
“In addition to the absolute horror of what is happening, there is a horror in normalizing it,” Rosen said. “There are hundreds of people being killed every single day. We cannot treat it as normal.”
Contributing: Associated Press
