San José State clubs Students for Justice in Palestine, Students for Quality Education and Students for a Democratic Society held a vigil Wednesday on Tower lawn.
The vigil provided electric candles and roses for community members and students to pay respects for those who died.
Last year, Palestinian nationalist group Hamas attacked Israel and killed over 1,200 people, according to an Oct. 7, 2023 U.S. Department of State press briefing.
Since the events of Oct. 7, approximately 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, which cites the Gaza Health Ministry.
Over 33,000 of these deaths have been caused by air and artillery strikes from the Israeli military, according to a BBC Article, which cites the same health ministry.
Adnan Chatila, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student, said he thinks it’s important to know about the conflict.
“It’s important to be here because ... the Palestinian cause is something we want to show other people who might not know the intricate details about what’s going on,” Chatila said.
Students and supporters at the vigil said they knew people from Palestine who had lost friends or family.
“A lot of my friends are from Palestine,” Chatila said. “I have several friends from Gaza specifically, and their family is broken up.”
Seth Heller, a second-year biology student, shared his thoughts on the conflict.
“Since we're far from Palestine and everywhere like that, I feel like it's good to support them, even from a distance, to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on,” Heller said. “This is not a war, but a genocide.”
Genocide is defined the intentional systematic killing of a certain group of people, typically of a specific shared group, according to the Oxford dictionary.
Some students feel that the conflict in Palestine fits that definition after tens of thousands have been killed and tens of thousands more have been injured.
Ian Petrola, a fourth-year psychology student, agreed that the conflict is an ongoing genocide, saying the grief of those with family in Palestine should be fully expressed.
“It’s been a full year of violence ... There were many innocent lives taken during this matter,” Petrola said. “It’s not even a war, it’s a genocide and I feel that these people deserve to be remembered.”
Atef Samie, a transfer biology student, said he thought the conflict needed more coverage and recognition.
“Awareness is really important, especially with topics that don't get enough and proper coverage,” Samie said. “So by doing this over time, it brings that awareness and coverage to light.”
Heller agreed, referencing different kinds of coverage of the conflict in the news.
“There's so much mixed media out there, we're just trying to bring this into true light because we see it on the news, how everything's being manipulated under the American government,” Heller said. “We're just trying to show the bare, unfiltered light of what's going on in Palestine.”
After the speeches concluded, pictures of people who had been killed in the conflict were
laid out for attendees to observe.
Once the attendees were done looking at the pictures, they stood in a circle around the pictures for a two-minute moment of silence.
Murtaza Haider, a second-year industrial engineering student was another student at the event who felt connected to those who had been killed.
“Personally, I’m Muslim, so you feel love for your Muslim brothers and sisters,” Haider said. “(I’m) here to show support for the oppression that’s happening in Gaza.”
