Demonstrators in cities across the world have been taking to the streets this week with pots, pans and spoons in a symbolic gesture to make noise with kitchen supplies in protest of hunger in Gaza.
On Wednesday in San Francisco, loudly banging pots and pans with spoons and carrying signs reading "Bread not Bombs" and "No Funding for War Crimes", hundreds of gathered in front of the Boston Consulting Group offices downtown, where they had been days earlier.
"Israel is starving Gaza," Jeanette Scott, a local resident and activist, told The New Arab, emphasising the roles of Western governments. "It's horrifying, because every day, I turn on my phone or my TV, and I'm in tears every single day."
Unsatisfied with the mainstream news coverage of Israel's war on Gaza and the growing hunger crisis, she has been posting her own public protest signs on city streets.
"I've gone out every day putting up signs around the city, because the media isn’t doing it," she said, acknowledging that her signs are often quickly taken down. "I feel that by doing it, I'm sending a message for Gaza because I want to let people know that Gaza is not forgotten."
They are continuing to demand that the company take responsibility for their role in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, accused of luring Palestinians in Gaza to their deaths at aid distribution sites. The consultancy cut ties with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, later blaming a rogue ex-employee for the collaboration.
From the BCG office, demonstrators marched to the waterfront, all the while banging on their pots and pans.
Lisa Zapata, a local activist, said she joined the demonstration because it's the least she can do, given the suffering she has seen in the news.
"I wake up to these images, and it needs to stop. I don't know how, but people coming together is positive," she said to TNA. "I feel like it's not enough, but it's something. I don't know what else to do. A lot of us don’t know what else to do. And I feel like that’s the whole war against the people, is making us feel so helpless."
"It's almost going on two years. It just breaks my heart. The babies, the families, the orphans, And we're paying for it with our taxes. It's sickening, and I don’t know what to do. So, I'm here to be with like-minded people. It gives me hope," she added. "We do get tired, but the people in Palestine are more tired."
In March, Israel cut off aid distribution to the Gaza Strip, causing food prices to skyrocket. By June, there were thousands of reports of malnutrition. Since the beginning of July, more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza have died of starvation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Prior to Gaza's hunger crisis, the besieged coastal enclave had lost most of its food infrastructure, such as plants, factories and bakeries, due to Israeli attacks.
Western governments have continued to support the actions of Israel's extremist government. There have been recent examples of dissent in US Congress and in the Israeli Knesset, though not sufficient to change policy. Experts have warned of irreversible health damage to Gazans from imposed starvation.
Meanwhile, American medical personnel working in Gaza have called for US envoy Steve Witkoff, who is expected to visit Israel today, to enter the besieged coastal enclave and visit the hospitals to see the impact of Israel's starvation.