Gaza war protesters block Lockheed Martin entrance in California

Pro-Palestine protesters have blocked the entrance of weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Sunnyvale, California, demanding an end to military aid to Israel amid Tel Aviv's carnage in besieged Gaza, which has been receiving unconditional political and military support from Washington.

Some 135 protesters gathered on Thursday from 6 am to 11 am, blocking employees from entering, the Bay Area Palestine Solidarity coalition said.

The protesters held signs that read "Free Palestine", "Stop arming Israel", and "War criminals work here", referring to Lockheed Martin.

The coalition said the protesters de-escalated a violent Lockheed Martin employee who almost snapped and threatened to run over the demonstrators.

"One enraged Lockheed Martin employee threatened to drive over protesters, brandished a knife, and yelled, 'Somebody's gonna die.' Our folks safely de-escalated the violent employee," Bay Area Palestine Solidarity said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A video posted on social media showed the employee driving fast towards the protesters, pulling out a knife and threatening them before the situation was de-escalated.

"This blockade reflects others that across the globe at weapons manufacturers in protest of their contributions to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. We all have a collective responsibility to disrupt the war machine until Palestine is free," Bay Area Palestine Solidarity said.

Lockheed Martin is one of the US' leading manufacturers of missiles and weapons.

"Lockheed Martin is one of the largest weapons manufacturers in the world. They've been supporting apartheid Israel for at least 20 years... their weapons are killing mothers, children, men, families, & innocent people," a protester at the site said.

'Complicit in genocide'

Pro-Palestine protests have been rocking the US since the start of the brutal Israeli war on besieged Gaza, where Tel Aviv has killed over 33,000 Palestinians so far, many of whom are children and women.

One of the major demands of the protests, who say the US is "complicit in the genocide," is the end of the military aid to Israel.

The US vetoed multiple UN ceasefire resolutions, but abstained in the last one, allowing it to pass.

Israel has displaced around 85 percent of Gaza's population and left 60 percent of the blockaded enclave's infrastructure either destroyed or damaged, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to do more to prevent starvation crisis in Gaza. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recently there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.