Hundreds of white flags covered the lawn surrounding the Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Fountain on McKeldin Mall as the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted teach-ins the morning of October 7, 2026, marking three years since Israel’s genocide on Gaza begun.
“These flags are supposed to represent all the martyrs that have died since October 7,” said Anand Kalla, a member of UMD SJP. “We could fill out [the] entire grass with all these white flags, but we would still not come close to the actual numbers of Palestinians who have died in Gaza.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the total death toll in Gaza has surpassed 72,928 since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel launched its offensive on the Gaza strip, with estimates far exceeding 180,000 when accounting for indirect deaths from starvation and disease.
“The main importance of this entire event is to illuminate to everybody on campus that the genocide in Gaza has been going on now for three years,” said Kalla, who is a senior economics major. “We’re trying to show that we as a campus are against the mass murder and genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.”
Dozens of students came throughout the hourslong event, planting flags and sitting in for the faculty SJP (FSJP) teach-in. Two members of SJP also read out names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza for over 20 minutes. More than 21,000 children have been killed by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, not accounting for indirect deaths.
Ridwanula Omitogun, a freshman mechanical engineer, chose to attend the event out of curiosity after seeing the flags and security nearby.
“I hope they [students passing by] realize the gravity of the situation and how the U.S. is kind of funding what’s going on there,” said Omitogun.
Nadine Sahyoun, a member of the FSJP who hails from Palestine, spoke about Israel’s utilization of “ecocide” in Gaza.
“This [ecocide] goes hand in hand with the genocide that is going on in Gaza right now,” said Sahyoun in her speech.
Ecocide is defined as “an extensive damage or destruction which would have for consequence a severe alteration of the global commons or the Earth’s ecological system”, according to the End Ecocide on Earth organization.
In May 2025, The Permanent Mission of Palestine to the Netherlands formally declared Gaza’s ecological devastation an ecocide.
“We are one world. We are exposed to the same air and the same environment.” said Sahyoun. “The consequences of what is happening in Gaza is going to be felt for a long time.”
According to the United Nations, the war in Gaza has “caused unprecedented levels of environmental damage in the Gaza Strip, damaging its soils, freshwater supplies and coastline.”
“I would like the students [passing by] to learn and understand what is going on and to take a stand,” said Sahyoon. “Because taking a stand is asserting your right to give your opinion, to stop things from happening that you don’t believe in.”
Image credits: Cover photo by Mariam Ahmed for Al-Hikmah.
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