No. 2

January 31, 2025

January Photo Review

World's Peoples Enter New Year Affirming
We Are All Palestinians!


Montreal, January 16, 2025, following announcement of Ceasefire Agreement.

The New Year 2025 began in Canada with more steadfast actions in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their Resistance fighters. On January 5-6, Canadians and Quebeckers joined health care workers around the world to demand an end to the targeting of hospitals and health care workers, and the release of health care workers who had been abducted by Israel, in particular Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabaliya.

With the signing of the Gaza Ceasefire Agreement on January 15 and its coming into force on January 19, many actions celebrating the Resistance's success in ending 15 months of carnage have taken place while regular weekly actions and other initiatives continue to demand the enforcement of the agreement and denounce the U.S./Israeli carnage in the West Bank.

CANADA
National Capital Region

A vigil was held at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa on December 31 at 11:00 pm to bring in the New Year by honouring the lives lost and to stand in unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people. Organizers pointed out that there can be no celebration as Gaza's genocide continues with the full backing of the U.S., Europe, and Canada, whose financial and military support fuels unimaginable violence and devastation.

The names of Palestinian martyrs were projected onto the Human Rights Monument and people spoke as midnight approached. An organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement pointed out: "This time last year when we gathered to honour all of our martyrs, projecting their names as we are doing now, the length of the video was seven minutes. This was absolutely outrageous then. Today, the video runs for 59 minutes! What other words can we use to describe this -- horrific doesn't even begin to encompass the sheer devastation of each millisecond of this video."

She continued: "Palestinians have shown us once again the true meaning of resilience and resistance. In 2024, Palestinians did not give up. So why should we? We cannot close 2024 without acknowledging that Israel's greed and barbaric violence was not limited to Palestine. Across the region, the Zionist entity continues to violate international laws, disregard the sanctity of life, and stomp on all human rights.

"We the people have power. It starts right here with us. We must make every effort to not only confront Zionist expansion, but also to actively dismantle it. In 2025, we have to keep speaking out, to keep showing up and to keep demanding that Canada end its complicity by imposing a two-way arms embargo. Now, more than ever, we must remain committed to our liberation movement to free Gaza, to free Palestine, and to free the world. Palestinian liberation is within our reach. We must have a deep-seated conviction that liberation is on the horizon and act accordingly. The fight continues, generation after generation, until total liberation."

The New Year was greeted with Ceasefire Now! projected against the monument, white balloons set free, and chants of Free Palestine! and Viva, Viva, Palestina!



December 31-January 1 vigil

Ottawa Healthcare Professionals for Palestine (OHCP4P) organized a march at the Human Rights Monument on the evening of January 6, to denounce the most recent attacks against health care workers and health care facilities in Gaza. The most recent brutal attack carried out by Israeli forces was against Kamal Adwan Hospital in Northern Gaza.

Before the march, two people spoke: Dr. Yipeng Ge, a family physician who was suspended by the University of Ottawa from his residency at its Faculty of Medicine in November 2023 for his support for Palestine; and Anan, a nurse manager and organizer with Ottawa Healthcare Professionals for Palestine. Both addressed the systematic targeting of hospitals and health care workers in Gaza and the need to continue speaking out to put an end to the genocide.

Dr. Yipeng Ge said, in part: "Today, health workers around the world, including in Canada and the U.S., are sick from genocide. What is happening in Gaza is by design. Last month I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, as he was calling in from the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. He was sharing with us the things he was seeing on the ground: overt, deliberate, and targeted attacks on health care workers and civilians. I remember stories of health care workers in Gaza that I met last year, including seeing children pouring into the intensive care unit at the European Gaza Hospital with gun shot injuries to the head and to the chest from Israeli snipers. These are kill-shots targeting Palestinian children. We have to understand that these attacks on health care, on health care workers and hospitals are a deliberate Israeli policy and strategy, not new in these past 15 months, because it has happened in Gaza for over a decade.

"Dr. Hussam is an exemplary physician who created a pediatric intensive care unit in Gaza despite all odds and circumstances. On Friday, December 27, the Kamal Adwan hospital was targeted, attacked, sieged and set on fire. Health workers were detained, including Dr. Hussam, who is now in an Israeli detention camp, which is essentially a torture camp where Dr. Adnan al Bursh, the chief of orthopedic surgery at Al-Shifa Hospital, was abducted, tortured, raped and killed by Israeli Forces. What we are seeing is a targeted, deliberate attack on health care, on humanity itself.

"We must continue to put pressure. The health care workers of Palestine will free themselves, as the Palestinian Resistance will free itself. That does not absolve us from our moral obligation -- an actual legal obligation -- to pressure all our workplaces, hospitals, academic institutions, pension plans, to divest, boycott, and end all Israeli medical academic partnerships. This is the bare minimum."

Anan then said, in part: "The deliberate destruction of health care infrastructure, targeting of medical workers and mass slaughter of civilians are part of a calculated strategy of extermination. Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, was reduced to rubble in December. Across Gaza, doctors, nurses and paramedics are being systematically targeted, detained, tortured, raped, and killed. By removing the very few people who save lives, Israel is not only attacking individuals, but dismantling Gaza's entire health care system. This is not collateral damage, but a war on life itself. As health care workers, we have pledged to protect life, heal wounds, and bring comfort to those in need. Yet, our colleagues in Gaza are being killed, their workplaces destroyed, and their patients left to die under the rubble.

"We reject that the lives of some are expendable. We affirm that every life is sacred and every person deserves safety, dignity, and caring. Standing here today, we declare we will not be silent. We call upon the international community to uphold its moral and legal obligation to end the genocide in Gaza, to demand the immediate release of Doctor Hussam and of all health care workers detained by Israeli forces, to protect hospitals and medical workers from further attacks, to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, immediately and without obstruction. Let us embody the spirit of humanity as a single body, until justice and liberation prevail."



January 6

On Saturday, January 11, a march was held where, under the banner New Year, Same Demands, people once again declared that they refuse to stay silent in the face of violence and oppression and will continue to demand a two-way arms embargo, an end to the genocide, and an end to the occupation.



January 11


January 16

A march was held at the Human Rights Monument on the evening of Friday, January 24, to demand that Israel end its brutal attack on Jenin in the West Bank. In their call to action, organizers point out:

"As of now, the Zionist entity killed over 10 Palestinians, injured over 40 and abducted at least 90. Nearly 2,000 families have been forcibly displaced from their homes under relentless attacks by both the occupation and the Palestinian Authority. Ambulances have been detained, hospitals besieged, and medical teams obstructed, as occupation bulldozers destroy roads around Jenin Governmental Hospital, cutting off essential aid.

"The occupation believes it can make up for its failures in Gaza by attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. Let us take to the streets and affirm that we will show up for Gaza, Jenin and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea."



January 24

A successful car rally was held in Ottawa on Saturday, January 25. Organizers of the event pointed out: "After 15 months of ongoing genocide in Gaza, the fight for justice continues. We're coming together to show solidarity with Gaza, Jenin, and all of Palestine. This rally is a call to raise awareness, demand action, and stand against injustice.

Montreal



December 31-January 1

Over a hundred people gathered outside the U.S. Consulate January 5 with placards and flags from Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen, where the Resistance Movement in support of the Palestinian people is very much evident.

An organizer explained, "[E]ven after 456 days, ... the United States of America ... is still funding the genocide in front of everyone" and the Canadian government is doing the same without the consent of the Canadian people.

"We still see our Resistance in Gaza, ... in Jabaliya. We still see what they're capable of, when they fired rockets on Tel Aviv," he added.

"The beginning of the liberation of Palestine not only starts in Palestine" but "all over the world, when we all understand that our enemies are not only the Zionist entity but everyone who supports this entity," he pointed out.

Saluting the Resistance in Yemen, he continued: "There are those who've been sending a very clear message that we will not give up on our people in Gaza until this genocide stops." He then saluted the Resistance in Iraq, Lebanon and "every single one of you for being out in the streets for more than a year, week after week, not giving up on the voice of our people in Gaza."

People took to the streets and marched through the downtown core, chanting: One -- We are the People! Two -- We Won't be Silenced! Three -- Liberation, Now, Now, Now, Now! Four -- We'll Free Our People! Five -- We'll Free Our Land! Six -- We'll Kick the Zionists Out Out Out Out!; In 2025, End the Genocide!; and others.

January 5

A vigil and silent march took place during the evening of January 6 at the call of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and the Health Workers Alliance for Palestine (HAP), with over 200 people participating with placards, flags, candles and photos of Palestinian health workers abducted by Israeli military forces. The action began near Concordia University and ended at the Israeli Consulate. Quebec Doctors Against Genocide was one of the organizations participating in the event.

Representatives from HAP and PYM addressed the crowd, with one of them saying: "We all know the statistics ... the catastrophic numbers. But we are not numbers. Even the Palestinian people are not a simple statistic to be listed. If we are still in this death cult, over one year in, there is another side to it, and that is love.

"Love for one's land, for one's people that they will die for, including our dear health workers working and caring for their fellow Palestinians until their last breath, much to the entity's and the West's rage and disbelief that the Palestinians are still there on their land defending themselves. Seventy-six years and 450 days later, they continue to survive, care for each other, feed each other, love each other, and fight for each other and their land. This cannot be defeated! This is the message! This year, the message is justice for Palestine and its people. And most importantly, as it has always been and will always be, Palestinian liberation from river to sea, and a return to those liberated lands for all Palestinians.

"If it is not in 2025, then it will be in 2026, 2027, or 2028, or in 24 years. Make no mistake! Palestinians will liberate themselves! That is why here in the imperial core, we cannot stop and we will not rest until this is accomplished.

"That is why we gather, to make it known that we will not simply disappear, and neither will the Palestinians. End the genocide! Implement a two-way arms embargo [between Canada and Israel]. ... Free all health care workers, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, along with the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in all of Palestine. Free Palestine!"

A young Palestinian health worker said, "How do you evacuate the dying, ... tell a patient on life support, when clinging to life by a thread, that they have 15 minutes to leave, that they must rip the tubes from their bodies, leave behind the machines keeping them alive, and run. But where? To what hospital? There are none left. Last week, the Zionist entity stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning hospital in the north of Gaza, the last place left for the wounded, the sick, the desperate.

"Then, they set the hospital on fire. The fate of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and the remaining hospital staff is unknown, but we know what happens to Palestinian doctors.

"We know what happened to the medical workers of Al-Shifa, of Al Ali, of Nasser Hospital. Abducted, tortured, executed. This is not new. This is a pattern, a systemic erasure. And now, there are no hospitals left in northern Gaza, no emergency rooms, no ambulances, no trauma units, no oxygen tanks.

"What does that mean? It means that as Israel escalates its genocidal campaign, every injured Palestinian left in the north, every child pulled from the rubble, every man, every woman bleeding in the streets will die.

"This is genocide. This is Zionism. This is the reality of a genocide that world powers have not just allowed, but have armed, funded, and justified. Again, world leaders issue empty statements. [...] They want us to mourn in silence, but we are here to say, 'we see you, we hear you, and we will never stop fighting for you.'

"For over 75 years, the Zionist entity has tried to erase Palestinians and Palestine. They have bombed, massacred, displaced and starved an entire people, believing that if they kill enough, imprison enough, burn enough, Palestine will cease to exist.

"But they fail to understand that with every martyr, and every martyr proves to us, that Palestinians do not die in silence, they rise resisting. Still, the people of Gaza stand tall in the face of an enemy that has thrown everything at them: famine, siege, white phosphorus, mass graves.

"They do not bow. They do not surrender.

"Resistance ... is our duty. If we say we stand for Palestine, then we must fight for it. We must demand more than words, more than weak condemnations. Nothing short of an immediate arms embargo, an end to the complicity, the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Zionist jails and the full isolation of the Zionist entity will stop this genocide.

"There is no neutral ground. There is no middle position on genocide. Either you stand with the oppressed or you are complicit in their slaughter. And across the globe, people are proving that they refuse to stay silent. They are shutting down arms factories, blocking roads, storming government buildings and taking to the streets. Health care workers around the world have declared that they will not look away while their colleagues in Gaza are executed for saving lives.

"They have vowed to speak up, to resist, to stand with every Palestinian doctor, nurse and medic fighting to care for their people under fire, because when hospitals burn, when doctors disappear, when the wounded are left to die, the whole world has a duty to come out and to speak up."



January 6


January 11




January 16



January 26

Quebec City

January 5

Wakefield

Hills for Peace and Justice held a vigil on Friday, January 17, as they do every Friday on the Wakefield Boardwalk. Below is a letter they sent to elected officials:

"Dear Prime Minister Trudeau

"Just as you have been speaking out about the implications of U.S. Canadian Trade, we urge you to boldly put out a call to all countries, including our own, as part of your legacy, to abide by their obligations under international law and commit to ensuring a permanent and unconditional ceasefire that should apply not only in Gaza but the entire region, including The West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

"Safety for all Palestinians everywhere!

"We also urge Canada to heed the words of UN spokesperson Farham Haq;

"'Given the scale of destruction and needs in Gaza, we are working to get vital aid to people as fast as humanly possible. We also urge Member States and partners to ensure that our aid operations are funded to meet the overwhelming needs.'"


January 25

Toronto

An action to stand with Palestine was organized at 11:00 pm, December 31 in downtown Toronto to begin the New Year, close to where thousands gathered to watch the city’s fireworks display. The participants brought in the New Year with shouts of Free, Free Palestine!; 2025, Gaza Is Still Alive!; 2025, Gaza Will Rise!; No Celebration Until Liberation!; Arms Embargo Right Now! and many other slogans affirming their determination to continue to mobilize until Palestine is free. Many young people expressed their support for the Palestinian people on their way to and from the fireworks display, and quite a few joined in as participants took to the streets, marching to Union Station.




December 31 - January 1

On January 5, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Healthcare Alliance for Palestine and Jews Say No to Genocide held a press conference outside the Ontario legislature at Queen's Park. Health care workers, including a doctor who had just returned from working in Gaza, spoke as part of the Global Day of Action of health care workers to denounce the U.S./Zionist attacks on the health care system in Gaza. The action also called for the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.

Other speakers denounced the U.S./Zionist regime's blatant disregard for Palestinian lives. Besides the ongoing massacres of civilians, aid workers, journalists and others, Israeli Occupation Forces have killed more than 1,000 health care workers and abducted more than 450.

Speakers at the action denounced the silence of administrators in hospitals and health care centres in Toronto and across Canada in the face of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Instead of speaking out and condemning the ongoing crimes and gross human rights violations, some hospitals have tried to silence and sanction health care workers who have taken a just stand and have spoken out in defence of the rights of the Palestinians.

Speakers at the press conference vowed that they will continue to speak out and organize to bring an end to the genocide and demanded that Canada stop funding and arming the U.S./Zionist criminals.




January 5

Hundreds of people, mostly youth, gathered in midtown Toronto on January 16 at a "Ceasefire Today, Liberation Tomorrow" rally to express their steadfast support for the Palestinian Resistance and the indomitable Palestinian people. 

At the rally outside the Zionist Consulate at Yonge and Bloor and throughout the march down Yonge Street to Dundas Square, the demands and slogans of the people rang out in English and Arabic: We Demand an Arms Embargo!; End the Siege on Gaza Now!; This Is a Genocide!; Justin Trudeau You Will See, Palestinians Will Be Free!; From the Rubble, We Will Rise! The Resistance Will Never Die!; We Will Rebuild Every School! We Will Rebuild Every Hospital! and many others.

Speakers denounced the ongoing genocide being committed by the U.S./Zionist forces which, in spite of the Ceasefire Agreement having been signed the day before, continued bombing Gaza. They noted that in the previous 24 hours, 100 Gazans, including 20 children, had been killed. They reported that the Resistance has not let down its guard and is more active than ever to block the U.S./Zionist aims. It was also pointed out by a number of speakers that the ceasefire was a direct result of the unity and resolve of the armed Palestinian Resistance, the defiance of the Palestinian people to the Zionist occupiers, and the support of peoples around the world.

Representatives of the Palestinian Youth Movement called on everyone to keep up their guard and continue to organize and join in mass actions. They noted that the ceasefire marks a turning point in the fight for the liberation of Palestine. They stated that they will ensure that in the upcoming federal election the liberation of Palestine and ending the Canadian government's support for the U.S./Zionist occupation will be front and centre and that all candidates will be judged on their stand on Palestine.




January 16

Youth confront MP Chrysia Freeland as she announces her candidacy for Liberal Party leader, January 19

Mississauga

As the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement was announced January 15, hundreds gathered at Celebration Square in Mississauga to celebrate the success of the Palestinian Resistance in ending the months of genocide.


January 15 

Sudbury


January 4

Sarnia


January 4

Windsor


January 1

Winnipeg



January 18

Edmonton




January 12
January 25

Calgary


January 5

Rally following announcement of signing of Ceasefire Agreement, January 15

Vancouver

A vigil was held at Robson Square in Vancouver on New Year's Eve. At one end of the vigil was an art installation on the theme of the Nativity. A Palestinian couple in a tent (a UN logo visible above the tent entrance) the wife holding a baby wrapped in a keffiyeh. Blood on the shawl of the mother; the father holding a Palestinian flag. A sheep; a bale of hay. Three figures standing outside the tent who represented The Press; the Red Crescent; a doctor.

An exploded missile beside the tent bore the words "made in the USA."

This installation is an example of peoples' inventiveness as they find means to express their shock and horror and condemnation of what the U.S. and Israel are doing in Gaza.



December 31 - January 1


January 11

Victoria



January 4

January 11
January 24

INTERNATIONAL

A major aspect of the mobilization in January to stand with Palestine was actions organized by doctors and health care workers in countries around the world on January 6, under the banner "Sick from Genocide," calling in sick and taking part in vigils and demonstrations against Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Actions by health care workers started January 4 and continued throughout the week of January 6-12 and beyond. 

The actions particularly denounced the Israeli targeting of hospitals and health care workers and followed the Israeli military's forced evacuation of the last two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza the previous week, which left around 75,000 people trapped in that area without access to health care of any kind. The demand was made that Israel must free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza who was abducted December 27, and all other medical personnel abducted by Israel.

The action was organized by Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) and several other organizations. In a press release DAG said:

"As health care workers, we have witnessed unimaginable atrocities: hospitals destroyed, patients and colleagues targeted, and entire communities left in ruins. [...]

"This is not just a day off -- it is a call to action. Together, we will demand accountability, justice, and an end to the ongoing genocide. Organizing to end genocide is not only our responsibility -- it is our path to healing."

In a meeting of the UN Security Council called by Algeria on January 3, the systematic destruction of hospitals in Gaza and the abduction of Dr. Abu Safiya was raised. People also made their voices heard there, including Doctor Tanya Haj Hassan, of Gaza Medic Voices, who called upon the international body to "show us that international humanitarian law matters, that human rights are universally applied and to stay true to the very reason this body was created." As of January 26, Dr. Abu Safiya continues to be detained without charge by Israel and has also been barred from meeting with his legal counsel.

United States

Washington, DC
 

Doctors Against Genocide press conference, January 8

January 10


January 22

New York City



December 31-January 1
January 6

January 16
New Haven, CT


January 3
Boston, MA

January 19
Chicago, IL

December 31- January 1
January 11
Minneapolis, MN

January 6
Dallas, TX

January 18

San Francisco, CA

January 6



January 21
Portland, OR
January 8

Guadalajara, Mexico


January 23
January 29

England

London

January 4


Stop Targeting Health Care Workers action, January 6

January 9

January 16


January 18
BrightonJanuary 11
Birmingham


January 24

Manchester

January 16
Leeds

January 29

Glasgow, Scotland



January 18

Dublin, Ireland



January 11
January 25

Cardiff, Wales


January 4

January 8

Norway

Oslo


January 19

Kristiansand


January 11

Germany

Berlin

Düsseldorf
January 4

Brussels, Belguim


January 28

Geneva, Switzerland



Health care workers action, January 25

France

Paris


January 12
Toulouse

January 11

Barcelona, Spain


January 30

Poland

Warsaw

January 11
WroclawJanuary 23

Türkiye

Istanbul
450,000 people march for Palestine, January 1


January 10
Ezurum


January 5
Konya
January 26

Nicosia, Cyprus


January 9

Amman, Jordan


January 16

Sana'a, Yemen


January 17

Tel Aviv, Israel



Pickets demanding Dr. Abu Safiya be freed, January 11. Top photo is outside detention centre where the doctor is being held.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


January 25

Seoul, Korea


January 19

Nagoya, Japan


January 31

Rafah Border Crossing, Egypt



Protest against Trump's proposal to displace Palestinians to Egypt, January 31

Morocco



January 10

Durban, South Africa


January 5

Sydney, Australia


January 5

January 12
(Photos: TML, Quds, Palestine Online, alejo_el_conejo92, adonis_ayb, macquenchie, Ottawa PYM, connorygk, @palestinequebec, A. Querry, @doctoram0na, Toronto PYM, Sudbury Saturdays for Palestine, @sarnia4palestine, @labour4palestinewpg, M.C. Tseng, @freepalestinebc, @adnanaltalebl, @victoria_to_palestine, @smvpym, @nycpym, @hcw4pct, Boston Palestine Solidarity, @antiwarmn, Dallas PSL, Health Care Workers 4 Palestine Bay Area, @pym-bayarea, portland4palestine, Palestine MX, Stop the War UK, D. Powves, Scottish PSC, Irish Health Care Workers for Palestine, ZaZaFl, @cmqkate, @mWahWah, E. Habouzit, @jonacinage, Mayadeen, Shehab, Act4Pal, @bds_kualalumpur, SEALDs7)

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