An anti-Hamas billboard on Interstate 290 west in Worcester between the Interstate 190 interchange and the Lincoln Square exit was vandalized over the weekend.

By Tuesday morning, Clear Channel, owner of the billboard, had replaced the defaced sign with a public service message from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The billboard, distributed by the Jewish organization JewBelong, was hot pink and included a single sentence: "Let's be clear: Hamas is your problem too" in white letters. The billboards are part of a national campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism.

Vandals painted over the words "your problem too" with pink paint and finished the sentence with "FREEING PALESTINE" in black writing. They added "Israel murdered 25,000 people" in the billboard's bottom right corner.

"The pro-Hamas graffiti on this billboard is a grotesque distortion of reality," Steven Schimmel, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts, said Sunday. "This vandalism must be handled with swift action and strong condemnation. Jewish Federation officials are in communication with Worcester police…and city officials."

Hamas, which controls Gaza, killed an estimated 1,200 people in a surprise attack on Israel Oct. 7, while taking more than 200 hostages. In response, Israel launched an invasion of Gaza that it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says more than 20,000 people have died in Israel's offensive.

The U.S. Department of State has listed Hamas as a terrorist organization since 1997.

At the billboard location, off Prescott Street, discarded paint cans and a brush coated with pink paint were visible on the ground Tuesday.

The matter has been referred to the state police, which has jurisdiction, according to the Worcester police.