NEW YORK, Oct 23, (Agencies): At the event, held at TD Garden, US comedian Dave Chappelle first condemned the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and then addressed the bombing campaign in Gaza, accusing the US of contributing to the loss of innocent lives. Israel initiated a series of airstrikes on Gaza in response to Hamas breaching the border, resulting in casualties and hostages being taken back to Gaza.

Gaza's Health Ministry reported that Israel's air and missile strikes in retaliation had caused the deaths of at least 4,741 people, more than half of whom were children, and injured 15,898. Additionally, over a million residents of Gaza, a densely populated area with 2.3 million people, have been displaced.

During the event, an audience member asked Chappelle to stop speaking, prompting a passionate response from the comedian. "You can't take tens of billions from my country and go kill innocent women and children and tell me to shut up," he declared, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

In response to some members of the crowd chanting "free Palestine," Chappelle expressed his support by saying, "You are damn right, free Palestine."

According to the Wall Street Journal, some attendees then asked, "What about Hamas?"