Occupation is a crime, killing children is a crime - was the chant that filled the downtown streets of Portland Tuesday afternoon, as hundreds of local residents gathered with handmade signs and megaphones to voice their outrage at the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that have continued for the last four days.

In Arabic, protesters chanted, Palestine - maintain your dignity, Gaza, stay steadfast.
 
Israeli authorities say that the first stage of their long-planned assault is ending, and the second stage is about to begin - a ground invasion of the besieged and imprisoned Gaza Strip.