Baala Shakya, Photography Editor

On May 19 — the day of Yale’s Commencement — individuals associated with Yalies4Palestine ended their hunger strike “for Gaza” on its tenth day. 

The group cited deteriorating health and what they described as Yale’s “inability” to engage with their continued demands in a Friday Instagram post announcing the end of the strike. 

Initially five undergraduate students and one recent Yale College graduate, the hunger strikers launched the protest to call for Yale’s divestment from weapons manufacturers and the severing of academic and financial ties with Israeli institutions. On May 13, a Yale staff member joined the strike, bringing the total number of participants to seven. Another student, the eighth striker, joined the strike on May 17, a hunger striker told the News — the same day Yalies4Palestine wrote on Instagram, “our numbers are growing.”

“With a heavy heart, yet out of precaution and due to deteriorating health conditions, we collectively decided to end the hunger strike on day 10,” the group wrote in its most recent update on the hunger strike. 

At the beginning of the strike, the individuals, who spoke to the News on the condition of anonymity, said they were only consuming water while gathering each day outside Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, which houses the offices of the university president and other top administrators. On the fourth day, strikers told the News they had also consumed sugar-free electrolyte drinks to try to regulate their blood pressure levels.

The hunger strikers drew inspiration from a parallel protest launched by 25 students across four California state universities, who began fasting on May 5 in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. In a public statement, Yalies4Palestine emphasized their protest as a response to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza and as an attempt to make an impact despite many students’ absence from campus for summer recess.

The protesters said they would continue the strike until Yale met a list of demands they sent to University President Maurie McInnis, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis and other University administrators. The list included calls for Yale to adopt a human rights-based investment policy, end partnerships with Tel Aviv University and other programs that fund student travel to Israel and guarantee amnesty for student protesters, including themselves.

The hunger strike quickly took a toll on participants’ health. One striker told the News on May 13 that her blood sugar had dropped to 39 milligrams per deciliter — a level that is “cause for immediate action,” according to the National Institute of Health. According to the Instagram post by Yalies4Palestine on that same day, two students experienced hypoglycemic episodes, with symptoms including nausea, tremors and severe dizziness.

On the seventh day, a different striker told the News that she had lost 10 pounds since beginning the strike and was experiencing difficulty moving. 

On Wednesday, May 14, Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd facilitated a meeting between several hunger strikers and Lewis. A student present at the meeting told the News that the discussion with Lewis focused primarily on the demand for amnesty for student protesters — including themselves — and the possibility of scheduling a meeting with McInnis or members of the Yale Corporation’s Committee on Investor Responsibility. No such meeting occurred during or after the strike, per Yalies4Palestine’s Instagram post.

In the caption of the post announcing the end of the strike, Yalies4Palestine expressed frustration with the University’s response, claiming that Yale should be ashamed for ignoring “the voices of your community to the extent of us needing to pursue an extreme action such as this strike.”

In the Instagram post, Yalies4Palestine claimed that the University administration “suspended student access to campus, effectively forcing [them] to leave campus without a response from administration.”

The University spokesperson wrote to the News that “there were no changes made to the standard post-commencement student access protocols” and that access to University buildings can be expanded or restricted “as circumstances require.”

Yalies4Palestine’s status as a recognized student organization was revoked on April 23, following the group’s involvement in promoting a Beinecke Plaza protest that the University claimed violated rules on the use of outdoor space.