Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian–American representative from Georgia, said that a panel on Palestine on the first day of the Democratic National Convention attracted a “packed house” as panellists shared experiences of “deep anguish” and loss from Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

“One of the speakers, Hala, talked about how she’s lost 100 family members. Two of them last week,” Romman said, in a post on X.

Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American doctor who has treated patients in Gaza was also on the panel, and spoke about a young boy whose family was killed who told her he no longer wanted to live because everybody he loved “is now in heaven”.

The side event was organised by delegates from the “Uncommitted” movement, in what The Associated Press news agency described as an “olive branch” from the Harris-Walz campaign.