About 50 students gathered Thursday morning in a silent protest to raise awareness for Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war. The protest, organized by USC Graduate Students in Solidarity with Palestine, saw a mix of faculty, undergraduate students and graduate students lay on the lawn in front of the Bovard Auditorium in a “die-in” action to represent those who have been killed in the war. Protesters held signs with slogans including “Free Palestine” and “Del río al mar Palestina será liberado” — which translates from Spanish to “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Participants also scrawled the names of Gazans and West Bank residents killed in the war on their forearms in black marker. After the protest, two students briefly went inside the auditorium to deliver a signed petition to President Carol Folt’s chief of staff.

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The protest marked 19 days since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War on Oct. 7. One student, a Lebanese senior majoring in global studies who requested anonymity for fear of their  safety, said they were exhausted after nearly three weeks of escalation. 

“It’s just been extremely draining for me,” they said. “But of course, that doesn’t even amount to how drained some of my Palestinian friends are — who sometimes cannot get into contact with their families, who are losing their family members, who try and seek help with USC mental health services and do not find any comfort there, who are away from their families.” 

On Thursday, the leaders of the 27 European Union member nations called for a ceasefire in Gaza to provide humanitarian aid, while a blockade has caused fuel to dwindle to dangerous levels. Agencies like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East have “significantly reduc[ed]” operations in the area upon near-exhaustion of fuel reserves. As of Friday, Gaza has seen more than 50 years of Israeli military occupation, a 15-year blockade on its borders and five wars. 

The UN General Assembly met in a rare emergency special session Thursday — hearing from representatives for Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Iran. A vote is expected Friday on a resolution drafted by Jordan and the Arab Group, which calls for an immediate cease-fire and compliance with international humanitarian law.  

The Lebanese student stood near the front of the protest for nearly two hours, helping call out names of those killed in the war. 

“When I was reading those names, it was out of support for [Palestinian students] and the fact that they did not feel safe enough to be here and support their own people,” they said.

Another student who asked for anonymity for fear of their safety, a junior majoring in economics, said that while they are not Palestinian, their Middle Eastern ethnic background allowed them to empathize and support. 

“Many of my friends are Palestinian. Many students here are Palestinian,” they said. “USC is filled with Palestinian students. Them being my friends, their pain is my pain. Their agony is my agony.” 

Still, fear of negative associations and miscommunications has inspired fear in many and made open, solutions-based conversation difficult, the student said.

“I haven’t seen many Israeli supporters receiving backlash from supporting Israeli,” they said. “But I know the cases of many Palestinian students here on campus whose names have been outed, who have suffered from death threats, have had their addresses made public, been called terrorists in public. It’s not a safe space.”

Another student, who also requested to remain anonymous, went to support the protest out of what they felt was personal obligation.

“I’ve been to Palestine before this quote-unquote conflict developed in the past few weeks — so this wasn’t really a matter of choice for me,” they said. “This campus has a problem of stifling Palestinian voices and equating it with antisemitism. Being pro-Palestine does not mean being antisemitic.”

To the Lebanese student, educating oneself is the first step to anything, especially in this case.

“As a global studies major, we study human experience,” they said. “Part of the human experience is understanding that there are people out there who are voiceless and oppressed and whose human experience is very different than yours. And while it may hurt to see that you’re being complicit in it, that doesn’t make it any less the truth. Even if it hurts us, I think it’d be selfish not to acknowledge that they deserve a chance for the hurt to be at least seen.”

The economics student echoed with similar thoughts.

“Whoever you support, have an open mind and consider the perspective of the other … try to absorb opinions from everywhere and think before you come to a conclusion. Keep an open mind — this is important,” they said.

Looking forward, they said they believe open conversation and a moderated Undergraduate Student Government committee that discusses how to create a safe space and environment for students on both sides of the conflict may produce trust and solutions-based thinking.

“As students, the best thing we can do is come up with a delegation — a committee of people who support both sides — including students and preferably faculty who specialize in what’s happening in the Middle East and are able to moderate the students,” they said.

One student said USC students are privileged to have access to many knowledgeable professors, especially in the sphere of decolonization. 

“It should not come as a surprise that a group as oppressed as the Palestinians would seek that as a solution — to revolt, to apprise, to start a revolution,” the student said. “They deserve their human rights — to be free, to not be under siege, to have access to running water and food and fuel, and to live in their land as free people.”