KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Saturday, the Knoxville community rallied using art as a messenger for peace in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
People hung children's clothing from a clothesline around Market Square, each piece of clothing meant to represent one of the over 4,000 children killed in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attacks, according to the United Nations.
"We want people to know that our people are more than numbers," Hasan Atatrah, a local Palestinian, said. "Every single one of these babies killed was somebody's everything. We see our babies, our cousins, our nieces and nephews, in every child that we see pulled from rubble crushed and suffocated."
People of all faiths and backgrounds came together to demand a ceasefire.
"We're trying to create a message for a ceasefire, we're trying to create the message for never again, to or for anyone," Jake Weinstein with Jewish Voice for Peace said.
The group displayed their art installation in Market Square; the length of the clothesline wrapped completely around the square.
"When I see, you know, the sheer length of this, the sheer size of this piece, I'm reminded of the humanity of our people, of the lack of humanity that many feel for Palestinian children who are killed," Atatrah said.
For people like Hasan, the deaths of children in Gaza can be equated to the children in his own family.
"I see my little cousin, Abood, I see my little cousin, Marioomah, I see my family," he said.
Children who lost their lives would be remembered long after their deaths.
"We remember them as our beloved, as brilliant lights of hope and resilience who were extinguished by a force that does not recognize our humanity," Atatrah said.
Organizers displayed around 1,500 pieces of clothing, representing around half of the total number of children killed, according to the United Nations.