SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Candles flickered as the sun went down Sunday over Rancho Peñasquitos’ Hilltop Community Park, lit in honor of those who have lost their lives during the Israel-Hamas war.
"People are feeling a lot of grief and a lot of pain and a lot of fear right now; I think, unfortunately, a lot of people were too afraid to come," said Casey Doan, one of the Rancho Peñasquitos community members who helped put together the vigil.
The small gathering was meant to be a space for people, no matter their political or religious views, to mourn those who have died in both Palestine and Israel.
"I had no idea this was going to be different, wasn't really a protest. But this was so much more," said Shazia Andaleeb, who told ABC 10News she has been hoping to attend a rally in San Diego since the war broke out.
Andaleeb brought her 11-year-old son, Adam, who shared his feeling of heartbreak seeing children across the world die as a result of the conflict.
"The fact that humanity has come so far... They've built fighter jets, they've got all this technology, but they still lack the basic humanity to even consider what they are doing. It's like, heartless," said Adam.
The group of community members laid flyers across a table, calling on President Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
