On Thursday, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced he was joining Australia and Canada in calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
Since the conflict in Gaza began nearly 130 days ago, Dunedin protesters have marched from the museum reserve to the Octagon demanding a ceasefire.
More than 15 of these weekly protests have been organised by the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA), stopping only for two weeks over the holidays.
PSNA spokeswoman Rinad Tamimi said one of their regular chants had been, "Luxon, Luxon, are you listening?"
Even though the Prime Minister had now listened to their voices, she said it was not soon enough.
"It’s too late, it’s way too late."
"It’s taken them 33,000 lives to call for that ceasefire."
Ms Tamimi said it showed that their work of tirelessly advocating for a ceasefire had made a difference, and put pressure on the government.
But the work did not end there.
She said they would continue to protest not only until a ceasefire was achieved, but when enough justice was achieved for Palestine.
"We need for them to actually acknowledge that Israel is committing war crimes, and genocidal aspects against the Palestinians.
"They need to announce that, publicly."
Ms Tamimi said the support from Dunedin had been "overwhelming", and had allowed them to build a new community over the past few months of protesting together.
Their rallies had drawn numbers of up to 300, and with Dunedin’s tertiary student population making their way back to the city, she hoped their numbers would grow even larger.
The joint statement by the Prime Ministers of New Zealand, Australia and Canada came after news of an imminent ground offensive by Israel targeting Rafah, a refuge for nearly 1.5 million Palestinians.
Ms Tamimi said at this time, support was more important than ever.
"Every time that you think it can’t get worse, it does get worse.
"That’s why we need this support more than ever, because they are deliberately doing it in front of the whole world."
