Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe addressed the large, pro-Palestine crowd in Naarm on Sunday.

The protests saw thousands gathering in Naarm, as well as Sydney and Adelaide.

Senator Thorpe, who has been outspoken in her support for the Palestinian people, reminded the rallygoers genocide has taken place in Australia since the beginning of colonisation.

"You're all on stolen land," the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung said.

"There's been a continual genocide in this country for over 200 years.

"It's slow and sophisticated, but it's still happening, and we are a testament to our resistance; our warriors; our survival; and our continued protests for the last 200 years against his colonial oppressive regime that is also complicit in the genocide in Palestine."

The protests also saw a speech from Uncle Robbie Thorpe, who drew parallels between Palestinian and Indigenous Australian experiences.

He then called for the federal government to suspend any support for Israel's military action in the Middle East.

The protests, which had received large media coverage and were criticised by politicians from both major parties before going ahead, were largely peaceful, with organiser Nasser Mashni telling the crowd: "If you have any sort of hate, piss off: we don't want you. There is no room for hate."

The war in Gaza has seen at least 40,000 Palestinians killed and has expanded to Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Lebanon. The massive escalation in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict was sparked after Hamas launched an attack on October 7, 2023, which caused the deaths of more than 700 civilians and up to 1200 people in total.

The war has also seen a fracture across the divide for First Nations people.

Senator Thorpe has been steadfast in her criticism of the Israeli government's actions, and in March accused Labor of being complicit in genocide in Gaza; joining 1,600 organisations urging the federal government to take action.

Aboriginal Legal Services in both Victoria and NSW have called for a ceasefire, with the ALS NSW/ACT stating on January 25th this year: "We stand with the Palestinian people, as we do with all colonised peoples. In our shared mourning, we uphold the tradition of Aboriginal-Palestinian solidarity in Australia."

Other comments have come from Human Rights lawyer Dr Hannah McGlade, who said solidarity with Palestine by Indigenous people in Australia had "only grown stronger" during the current conflict, and Blak Sovereignty Movement member and journalist Jennetta Quinn-Bates, who drew parallels between the events in Gaza and in Australia.

"They're still committing genocide here," she told National Indigenous Times earlier this year.

"They may not be dropping bombs, but they're still removing our children. They're still incarcerating our people and they're still allowing discrepancies in the mental health, in so many departments, that contributes to the high suicide rates in our communities."

However, other renowned community members have been critical of what they view as a misappropriation of the Aboriginal flag.

Indigenous academic Marica Langton claimed in an opinion piece for The Australian it was false to suggest most Indigenous Australians feel solidarity with Palestinians, whilst former NSW Liberal candidate Nyunggai Warren Mundine told Sky News he rejected the view that Israelis were colonisers.

Former Labor Senator and Olympian Nova Peris OAM used social media to argue it had become "trendy" to support Palestine and questioned the historical knowledge of some activists who "relied too heavily" on information she said was garnered from Tik Tok.

Earlier this year, Ms Peris was forced to reject assertions she referred to Zomi Frankcom, an Australian aid worker killed in Gaza from an Israeli air strike, as a "lowlife terrorist sympathiser", and stood down from the Australian Republic Movement after a disagreement with fellow co-chair Craig Foster after he called for Israel to be suspended from an upcoming FIFA conference because of its involvement in the Gaza conflict.