New York, New York - Thousands of people took to the streets of New York City on Labor Day to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an arms embargo on Israel, and the liberation of Palestine from decades of illegal occupation.

The Flood NYC for Gaza march, organized by Within Our Lifetime and endorsed by dozens of groups, gathered an estimated 7,000 people to the Big Apple.

Demonstrators wearing keffiyehs and raising Palestinian flags rallied in Union Square before beginning their march around Manhattan – including several stops at universities that have so far failed to divest from Israel in accordance with student demands.

NYPD cops stepped in on East 44th Street near the Israeli consulate, but demonstrators were not deterred.

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"Move cops, get out the way. We know you're Israeli trained," the protesters chanted.

The NYPD and other American police forces participate in training exchange programs with the Israeli military. Surplus military equipment, some of which the US government sends to Israel, often finds its way into domestic police forces via the 1033 program.

"From the belly of the beast, hands off the Middle East!" marchers shouted as they called for an end to the arms transfers.

Public outrage is mounting in the US nearly 11 months into Israel's all-out assault on Palestinians. Occupation forces have slaughtered at least 40,786 people in Gaza since October 7, according to the territory's health ministry, although the actual number of deaths is feared to be far higher.

Meanwhile, Israel has ordered repeated mass displacements while maintaining its brutal blockade of Gaza, which has caused the spread of famine and preventable diseases like polio.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers and settlers have ramped up their attacks and killed at least 637 Palestinians since October as the apartheid regime moves to expand illegal settlements.

The Labor Day action in New York City also included a fundraiser to send urgently needed medical supplies to Palestine, with more than $20,000 generated so far for the cause.