NYU students joined over 1,000 demonstrators in a citywide protest Tuesday evening that marked the second year of escalated conflict in Gaza, calling attention to the climbing death toll and ongoing humanitarian crisis faced by Palestinians. 

The protest, organized by pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, began at around 4 p.m. at the News Corp. headquarters in Midtown — which houses Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal — to condemn media portrayal of the war in Gaza. Attendees chanted “Everytime the media lies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies” while holding signs with phrases such as “THEY CAN’T KILL THE STORY.”

Around 15 counterprotesters assembled across the street, with both groups constrained by metal barricades. The counterprotesters, who declined to speak with WSN, waved Israeli flags and held signs that read “FREE THE HOSTAGES.” Around three dozen New York City Police Department officers surrounded the demonstration, which saw several brief altercations but no apparent arrests.

At the rally, Tandon senior Ebtesham Ahmed, a member of NYU’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, told WSN it was important for students to exercise their right to protest amid controversy over a pro-Israeli activist speaking at the university.

“We’ve seen that today the Federalist Society invited a horrendously racist speaker to come on to campus,” Ahmed said. “If people like that are protected by NYU, then how about free speech for people demanding an end to the genocide.” 

The group grew and began marching two hours later, accompanied by over 100 NYPD officers. Demonstrators proceeded up Fifth Avenue to Central Park before making their first stop at the Trump Hotel, where Muslim attendees prayed in congregation as an “act of faith and resistance.” They marched down to Times Square and attempted to enter Moynihan Train Hall, which was preemptively barricaded, before dispersing at Hudson Yards around 9:30 p.m.

During the march, protesters stopped outside the headquarters of BlackRock, a company known for its large investments in Israel, and chanted “We charge you with genocide.” They also stopped outside the Boston Consulting Group, accusing the company of playing a “key role” in creating an Israeli and U.S.-backed aid distribution group that U.N. experts suspect was involved in the deaths of nearly 1,400 Palestinians seeking food.

“Occupied people have a right to exist, and that right is acknowledged under international law, but somehow Palestine always remains an exception,” WOL organizer Fatima Mohammed told WSN. “History will expose every single person and institution that was complicit in this genocide.”

Negotiations are underway after Hamas agreed to release all Israeli hostages as part of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the plan would “achieve Israel’s war aims.”

NYU Hillel hosted a commemoration ceremony on Sunday to honor those killed and kidnapped by Hamas in Israel. 

Following Oct. 7, 2023, protests related to the war in Gaza erupted across NYU and other U.S. universities. In April 2024, more than 120 students, faculty and community members were arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment. Through the end of that academic year, weekslong demonstrations continued outside the Paulson Center.

More recently, NYU suspended 13 students who staged a Bobst Library sit-in in December, demanding the university disclose its investments in companies with ties to Israel. A few months later, NYU barred nearly 30 law students from entering most university buildings, and at least one was reportedly threatened with expulsion. 

Since January, the Trump administration has taken several steps to stall pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses, including detaining student protesters and vowing to search visa applicants’ social media for “violence or views” deemed threatening. Last week, NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors was part of a coalition of organizations across U.S. universities that won a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its deportation of pro-Palestinian non-citizen students and faculty. 

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, over 67,000 people in Gaza have been killed and at least 11,000 remain missing. At least 1.9 million people — which constitutes 90% of the population — have been displaced, with Israel occupying 75% of the Gaza Strip as of July.

“It’s devastating how so much aid is being prevented from reaching people,” Ayesha, a protester who omitted her last name out of fear of retaliation, told WSN. “If the bombs aren’t killing them, then starvation and disease are, and it’s devastating to think about that.”

Contact Leena Ahmed at [email protected].