A group of pro-Palestinian activists held a demonstration on Tuesday outside the headquarters of major US media outlets in Washington, DC, accusing them of biased coverage and complicity in "Israel's" genocidal war on Gaza.

The protest took place at 400 North Capitol Street, outside the offices of NBC, Fox News, MSNBC, The Hill, and others. Demonstrators carried signs that read "Stop media complicity in genocide” and “Media lies, Gaza dies."

"For over 22 months, Gaza has been under relentless assault, [with] tens of thousands of people dead, many of them children," said organizer Hazami Barmada, adding, "Yet many of the media continue to remain silent, evasive or complicit."

She emphasized the power of narrative, "What comes out of this building shapes the stories that the world believes, and right now, those stories are killing people."

Barmada also criticized mainstream coverage that uses passive or vague phrasing, such as "people are starving", instead of directly naming the perpetrator, "Israel is starving people." She said such language "normalizes mass death" and erases Palestinian voices from global discourse.

'Israel’s' war on Gaza: Death toll and devastation

According to Palestinian authorities, more than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of them women and children. The ongoing bombardment has devastated Gaza’s infrastructure, caused the collapse of its health system, and created widespread food insecurity.

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"Israel" has maintained a blockade on Gaza for 18 years. Since March 2, it has sealed all border crossings, cutting off humanitarian aid and worsening an already catastrophic situation in the besieged enclave, with aid only recently having begun to trickle into the Strip.

Activists argue that US media coverage of the war plays a key role in shaping public opinion and foreign policy. By failing to accurately report the scale and context of the destruction in Gaza, media outlets are seen as contributing to ongoing atrocities.

The protest in Washington adds to growing international criticism of Western media’s role in enabling impunity for "Israel" through selective language and omission of Palestinian suffering.

Read next: How language used in American media facilitates genocide

More than 40 arrested at protest against Gaza war 

In a related event, more than 40 people were arrested Monday evening outside the Trump International Hotel in New York City during a protest against the war and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The demonstration, organized by IfNotNow, a Jewish-American anti-occupation group, began earlier at Columbus Circle, gathering hundreds under the banner: "Trump: Jews Say No More."

The protest called for an immediate end to the war on Gaza, demanding that the US government pressure "Israel" to allow humanitarian aid into the territory, where health officials continue to report deaths caused by starvation and malnutrition.

"Let’s not mince words, the Israeli government’s blockade of Gaza is a policy of ethnic cleansing by way of forced mass starvation," said Morriah Kaplan, interim executive director of IfNotNow.

"It is an unbearable, unspeakable, unfathomable affront to our shared humanity and those who are carrying it out and are deploying our Jewish symbols, language, and traditions to defend and justify it," she added. "Which is why I’m heartened to see such a range of Jews and Jewish organizations coming together today to say with one voice that we oppose these atrocities, not in spite of our Judaism, but for many of us, because of it."

Kaplan called on the US government to use its influence to halt the ongoing attacks, adding, "We need the US government to use its considerable leverage to end these horrors," she said.