New Yorkers, in the hundreds, held a late afternoon rally in Manhattan on Thursday to show solidarity with Palestinians, call a stop to the Israeli offensive in Gaza and an end to the seven year blockade.

It was one of many rallies for a national day of action to demand that local and national governments end their support of Israel's assault on Gaza. Families came joined by seniors, business people and students. The rally turned into a one-mile march, taking the group from Foley Square, down Broadway to City Hall.

Harlem resident Paola was there with two children, her son and her nephew, and a stroller with a sign reading GAZA in red and green letters on a black background. Latin Post asked her why she was attending the rally.

"Humanity. The genocide of a people would be an insult to humanity," she said. "And considering I'm a mother, and I am a human, that's just about enough. Children are dying, and they need to know and learn what's important. They are children growing up in this world so teaching them the responsibility of standing up for another, it's a huge education for them. What more could I offer them?"

New York elected officials have held several press conferences backing Israel's right to defend itself and since the Israeli Forces began their offensive campaign and started a ground assault last week to end what they claim is Hamas's attack on Israel with missiles.

Joining Adalah-NY today were members of the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, CodePink, Jewish Voice for Peace NYC & Westchester, MADRE and The Orthodox Jews Against Zionism, who held up a sign saying "Authentic Rabbis always opposed to Zionism and the State of Israel."

In Gaza, a U.N. school compound was hit with tank shells killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. Palestinian officials said they were Israeli tank shells. The Israeli military is reviewing the incident and suggested Hamas rockets may have been to blame.

Since the offensive began, nearly 695 Palestinians have been killed, three-quarters of whom are civilians with 4,100 wounded according to Palestinian officials. For Israel, 37 soldiers and three civilians have died.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said some of the recent Israeli attacks raise a strong possibility that international law has been violated in a manner that could amount to war crimes. Pillay also condemned the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas into densely populated Israeli areas.