Pro-Palestinian rally held at City Hall as Israel-Hamas war continues

NEW YORK CITY - In New York City it was a day of demonstrations marking one month since the Hamas attack on Israel.

Protests took place outside the United Nations Tuesday morning, where pro-Israeli demonstrators called for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other world leaders to get more aggressive in their attempts to retrieve the 240 hostages still held by Hamas. 

"They were taken away from their beds while they were sleeping and now are held hostage in Gaza for 30 days," said Shiny Greanot-Lubatoun, whose husband’s cousins are among the hostages. 

She and a couple dozen others printed posters of the faces of Guterres’s family members in an attempt to get his attention. 

"We are here to remind the Secretary-General that it could have been his own families," she said. "We want him to understand that he would probably act differently if it was his children."

Another group of demonstrators gathered in Brooklyn calling for a ceasefire. Residents of New York’s 9th Congressional District are calling on Yvette Clark to support the ceasefire resolution in the House. 

"It is unconscionable to me that the U.S. is backing a genocide," said a Bhavana Nancherla. "As a parent, I can’t be silent as I watch our government support that."

But by far the largest rally of the day took place in Lower Manhattan.  More than 1,000 people took part in the Flood Election Day for Gaza rally that began outside city hall. 

In a rally that began near City Hall, demonstrators could be heard chanting, "Israel bombs, U.S.A. pays, how many kids did you kill today!"

The group eventually marched over the Manhattan Bridge. 

One of those marching told FOX 5 NY that he’s a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota whose tribe "has faced occupation and assimilation and genocide."

"We can’t keep repeating the same mistakes over again," he said. "I want to see a ceasefire. I want to see the end of the violence. That’s why I’m here today."