ATLANTA — Saturday marks the first Sabbath since the Israel-Hamas war.
As Rabbi Albert Slomovitz explains, it's a time when the Jewish community comes together once a week to pray.
We are now one week into the terrible tragedy and Atlanta supporters are fired up.
Palestinian freedom supporters rallied and marched in front of the CNN center for a few hours Saturday afternoon.
Rabbi Slomovitz explained that the war launched on a Jewish holiday.
"It was called Simchat Torah, which is a particularly joyous holiday," Slomovitz said. "And so, now, you have sort of the juxtaposition of something which was supposed to be very happy, turns out to be a reminder of something very sad."
Slomovitz said he has a nephew on reserve in Israel and several members with family there.
"Everyone's trying to figure out where they are, what they're doing, are they safe?"
Now, Slomovitz said the holiday will bring many great pain.
"So, you have grief followed by worry," Slomovitz said.
That grief and worry wash over those with family in Gaza as well, such as Abdulrahman.
"I'm speechless, to be honest," Abdulrahman said.
Abdulrahman joined the rally with his son.
"Second by second, the number of casualties increases," Abdulrahman added. "We want to stop this. Ok, we understand what happened, but you cannot attack the civilians and kill them for no reason."
Hundreds of others marched, in Atlanta, to show support for Palestinian civilians trapped with no way out.
Estevan Hernandez is an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation who helped organize the rally. He spoke at the rally asking the U.S. to discontinue aid to Israel.
"Right now, there's a siege on Gaza. There's no electricity. There's no water. There's no food getting in," Hernandez said.
People, as young as seven months to senior-aged adults, rallied. There was diversity in age and ethnic backgrounds.
"If not something's done, there's going to be the deaths of more--of thousands and thousands of more people," Hernandez said.
Abdulrahman calls the war a catastrophy.
"If you stay, they will kill you," Abdulrahman said. "If you flee, they will kill you. Then what?"
Demonstrators held signs that said "Free Palestine," "Resistance Against Occupation and "Stop Genocide." Abdulrahman said there is no hope or jobs for his people, as the economy is in turmoil. He said many die by suicide.
"Even though I'm American, but still, my heart is with my people there," Abdulrahman said. "So, we want peace."
Slomovitz said there's a long road to peace.
"If anybody approaches me and it looks like they're going to hurt me, I have to defend myself, regardless of who they are," Slomotvitz said.
He said he was not sure of a solution.
"We have to get through the current situation and see how it all plays out," Slomovitz said.
Slomovitz encourages those who are in support of Israel to tie white and blue ribbons on their mailboxes and trees in support of freeing hostages.
No humans needs to be burned alive. No babies should beheaded and slaughtered. No elderly, kids, babies and parents should be murdered or kidnapped," Delilah Cohen said. "No girls should be raped. No animals need to be shot over and over again. No family needs to see their love ones murdered in front of them or on a TikTok or Instagram video. No family should wait to bury their loved ones because they can’t be recognized."
"Innocent civilians were not in a war or a battlefield, they were waking up and expecting a relaxing and peaceful weekend. But for no reason, they are all were massacred," Cohen added. "The Hamas organization should be wiped from this earth. In our time, we should have no evil. This horrifying tragedy must stop, and Israel should take all necessary action to make it happen."
Hernandez said you can reach out to the party here, to support the next rally for Palestine.