Prayer vigil for peace held in Fresno amid Israel-Hamas war

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- More than 100 people filled Eaton Plaza in downtown Fresno Monday night to pray for peace.

The group is thankful for the temporary humanitarian pauses but is calling for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

"What's going to happen? A couple of days of ease, and then we're going to continue with the slaughter? We want something permanent," said Hajj Reza Nekumanesh, a local Muslim Leader.

Several speakers rallied the crowd, encouraging them to contact elected officials to ask them to support an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

"I have to face each day knowing my tax dollars are being used to kill and torture my own people. I have to live with that," said Layla Darwish, a Palestinian-American.

Unrelated to Monday night's prayer vigil in downtown Fresno, someone vandalized Congressman David Valadao's Hanford office.

He said it was anti-Israel protesters, saying in part: "I strongly support the right to peaceful protest, but violence and vandalism are never acceptable."

"It's never good to see an escalation of violence anywhere. We work to deconstruct Islamophobia as well as antisemitism and just hope that violence doesn't impact us here at home," said Nekumanesh.

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