Walsall to host day-long memorial event for children of Gaza this weekend

Walsall has been chosen as one of 24 areas across the country which will simultaneously host the event on Saturday (October 4).

The demonstration, called Know Their Names, will involve reading out the names of children who have been killed in Gaza over the last two years.

The event has been organised by Friends of Al-Aqsa.

A spokesperson for the NGO said: “Since the onset of the Israeli attacks, over 19,000 children have been killed in Gaza, with thousands more wounded, orphaned, or displaced.

“Behind every number lies a child with a name, a family, and a stolen future.

“The Know Their Names memorial seeks to humanise this unimaginable loss, reminding the world that these children are more than statistics — they are lives that mattered.”

Independent group leader at Walsall Council, Councillor Aftab Nawaz, has called on people to join the memorial event.

He said: “Every child’s death in Gaza, Palestine, is devastating and unbearable. Their futures lost, their potential destroyed, and their innocent laughter silenced.

“The horrific scenes of murdered and mutilated children and babies in Gaza haunts us all. The images of children, including babies, being deliberately starved by the Israelis shocks us all to the core.

“In Walsall, the community will honour the innocent children who have been killed by the IDF.

“We will join our community to read out their names so that they live in our hearts and minds, each and every one of them.

“We can only hope that this inhumanity will come to an end, and the child-killers with their supporters and arms-suppliers are one day held to account.

“We all stand together to honour the thousands of children and babies lost to this madness and say with one voice that we will always remember them.”

The Know Their Names demonstration is set to take place from 8am to 6pm outside Barclays Bank on Park Street, Walsall.