Lisa and John, two attendees at a pro-Palestine march in Oxford, have taken part in daily protests outside Carfax Tower.
Lisa, a graduate student, said students had developed awareness of the cause and a willingness to act, but that many remained afraid.
John said Oxford’s prestige brought considerable power and opportunities for public advocacy to the city.
The march began in Cowley before continuing to the Weston Library on Saturday 31st October.
Approximately 120 people joined the demonstration, which called on Oxford University to divest from Israel.
Participating groups included Oxford Students for Palestine, previously known as Oxford Schools for Palestine; Oxford Action for Palestine; Oxford City Green Party; and Health Workers & Allies for Palestine.
An opening address examined the role of Oxford-educated administrators in establishing Israel, with particular reference to the Balfour Declaration.
Green councillor Ahalya Bala also addressed the deteriorating situation in Palestine.
She rejected the description of events as a conventional war, instead characterising them as annihilation.
Atrocities continued, although their pace varied.
In the West Bank, she described forced displacement, property seizures, the destruction of neighbourhoods, military raids, arbitrary detention, torture, rape, executions and land seizure linked to Israeli expansionism.
She also criticised racial segregation and the domination of Palestinians.
Nick Maynard, an Oxford alumnus, surgeon and Exeter College member who has worked extensively in Gaza, told those gathered outside the library that silence can become complicity.
He said more than 22,000 children had been killed in Gaza during the previous three years.
Maynard also recounted his experiences with individual patients in Gaza hospitals.
On one occasion, Israeli military personnel removed critical supplies of baby formula from his colleagues as they entered the strip.
A banner positioned at the centre of the gathering asserted that Israel had bombed 36 hospitals in Gaza and killed more than 1,700 healthcare workers.
It described attacks on healthcare as a war crime and called for an arms embargo and sanctions.
During the route through Oxford, demonstrators demanded an immediate arms embargo, held the university responsible for what they described as blood money and called for the publication of divestment plans.
They also urged Oxford University to choose between justice and genocide.
Haya Adams, an activist associated with the SOAS-liberated zone, said the university should end financial relationships that supported what she described as genocide.
She identified the institution’s investments and partnerships as areas where ties should be severed, while maintaining that ethical alternatives existed.
Adams also called for greater protection of free speech by allowing students to express support for Palestine without disciplinary action.
She said those responsible for arrests during the encampments should be held accountable.
Oxford Students for Palestine said Oxford city remained strongly supportive of Palestine.
The organisation called for an end to genocide and apartheid, the liberation of Palestinians and recognition of their right to return.
It also linked the city’s twinning with Ramallah to that position.
As one of the march organisers, the group demanded that Oxford University and its colleges disclose and fully end investments, purchases and banking relationships involving Israeli companies or institutions such as Barclays.
It additionally criticised the Oxford University Endowment Fund, known as OUEM, as fundamentally resistant to disclosure and divestment.
Maynard said governments, media organisations and academic institutions had all failed in their international treatment of Palestine.
He argued that Oxford students had demonstrated their commitment but had not been given sufficient opportunities to discuss the issue.
A larger platform was needed, he said, for students to participate in debate about the conflict.
In response, Oxford University said it remained committed to freedom of expression and peaceful protest within the law.
It also stated that it had legal and moral duties to protect the rights, dignity and safety of everyone within its community.
The university said action would be taken under applicable law and established procedures when protest conduct caused serious disruption, harassment or safeguarding concerns.
OUEM did not respond to the request for comment.
At the conclusion of the march, Oxford Students for Palestine said the demonstration reflected a global student movement in which united students would not be defeated.
Stanley Arlidge and Freya Robson contributed additional reporting.