BOSTON — Harvard Medical School is facing fury after students announced a “Vigil for Gaza” on Instagram — describing the dead as “martyrs” just days after violent pro-Palestine riots shook Boston Common and hostages were freed from Hamas captivity.
The vigil, promoted by a group calling itself HMS Students for Health Equity in Palestine, urges “medical students, healthcare workers, and allies from across Boston” to gather on the Harvard Medical School Quad to “mourn the martyrs.” The Instagram flyer accuses the U.S. and Israel of “ongoing genocide” and calls for solidarity with Palestinians “in their struggle for freedom.”


Critics say the language and timing are incendiary. “Absolutely repulsive and shocking the school is allowing this,” one Boston resident told Mass Daily News. The announcement surfaced less than a week after pro-Palestine demonstrators clashed with police at Boston Common, forcing officers to clear the park and sparking citywide backlash.


The event, set for Thursday, October 16 at 6 p.m., appears limited to Harvard affiliates, but the post has already spread widely online. Critics have accused the university of enabling radical activism under the banner of “equity,” while others defended it as free expression.
Harvard has not issued a public statement. But with tensions still high from the Boston protests and ongoing hostage recoveries in Israel, the timing of the vigil is drawing scrutiny.
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