Graduate students and faculty members at the City University of New York (CUNY) have entered the fourth day of a hunger strike, demanding an end to the Israeli occupation’s genocidal onslaught against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Held in the courtyard of the CUNY Graduate Center, the hunger strike has become a powerful expression of solidarity with the people of Gaza, who have endured months of relentless Israeli bombing, starvation, and displacement. Protesters have covered the area with banners, Palestinian flags, and harrowing images from Gaza, declaring that standing with Palestine is not just an act of protest—but a moral duty.

“While children in Gaza are starving and dying under Israeli bombs, institutions like CUNY continue to funnel funds to the companies enabling this genocide,” said one striking participant. “Our hunger strike is a stand against that complicity.”

Organizers have condemned CUNY for maintaining financial ties with weapons manufacturers and other entities directly involved in the Israeli occupation and settler-colonial regime. They demanded the university divest fully and publicly from all Zionist-linked investments, and take steps to support Palestinian students and causes on campus.

“CUNY cannot be neutral in the face of genocide,” another striker said. “Every dollar invested in Israel’s war machine is a bullet in the body of a Palestinian child.”

Despite physical exhaustion, participants have vowed to continue their hunger strike until CUNY meets their demands. Their stance echoes the defiant resilience of Gaza’s people, who continue to resist in the face of starvation, rubble, and siege.

This hunger strike at CUNY is part of a broader uprising across universities worldwide, where students and faculty are taking bold, uncompromising stands against Zionist apartheid, demanding justice, liberation, and dignity for Palestine.

“The cries from Gaza can no longer be ignored,” organizers said. “We are here to amplify them—and we won’t stop until Palestine is free.” (ILKHA)