INDIANAPOLIS — Chants echoed through downtown Indianapolis Thursday as pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups gathered on Monument Circle.
There were signs in remembrance of loved ones lost in the war and those who are missing loved ones, hoping to bring them home.
Mousam Awad is among those praying for their families who are trying to survive.
"We talk to them whenever we can. They say like, "It's fine,' and like, 'God is on our side' and stuff," said Awad, whose grandparents are in Gaza.
Whether people were on the sidewalk standing with Palestine or next to the monument with those supporting Israel, many of them are still healing from decades of hurt.
"The horrors that passed down to us from those previous generations are something that we don't forget. To see it happen again in 2023 is absolutely mind-boggling, unspeakable crimes that have crushed families," said Asaf Halevi, who is a descendant of a Holocaust survivor.
Sham Ayyah stood with a Palestinian flag in hand, calling for peace between Israel and Gaza.
"I don't stand for Hamas, but I stand for the innocent children that are getting killed. That's what I stand for. I don't stand for Hamas, but I stand for Palestine and its liberation in a peaceful manner," said Ayyah as people chanted, "Free, free Palestine."
One man from Ukraine had an Israeli flag draped across his shoulders in honor of his mom living in Israel, but his reason for being at the rally Thursday was because he can.
"My grandparents didn't have a chance to see it. They died in WWII to be able to preserve our social ability, to have the ability to arise to leave and freely expose our beliefs," said Ilya Grabovasky.
For the most part, the rally was peaceful between the two groups, but a fight did break out between two people with opposite views. We reached out to IMPD and they did confirm that one person was arrested for battery.