Tens of thousands of people are demonstrating in the Palestinian territories to demand the right to return to the occupied Palestine and an end to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Organizers are calling today’s events a million-man March. It’s also the one-year anniversary of the start of weekly protests in Gaza. Three Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces near the Gaza border.
The Palestinian Red Crescent says more than 100 were injured by bullet wounds and tear gas inhalation. There’s also been violence in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. One young man succumbed to injuries had sustained last night. Another 17 year old teenager was hit during the afternoon directly in the face. It’s unclear whether it was by sniper fire or a tear gas canister and died from his injuries.
There have been reports that some kind of Egyptian delegation has been shuttling between Gaza and Israel over the past week, possibly to bring about some sort of understanding between Hamas and Israel to calm down the situation.
The organizers have asked protestors to stay far away from the fence. The Israeli army has put out a statement saying some young protesters are approaching the fence throwing stones but most of the protesters have actually stayed farther away from the fence.
Early Sunday morning the Israeli army said that its tanks had hit “a number of positions” belonging to the Hamas resistance movement in Gaza early on Sunday morning. The shelling, it claimed, came hours after five rockets were fired at the southern occupied lands from Gaza and triggered sirens in Eshkol regional council.
A spokesperson for the council claimed that the rockets had landed in open territory and no casualties or damage had been reported.
The new Israeli act of aggression followed the regime’s deadly crackdown on a mass protest in Gaza on Saturday, which marked the anniversary of the Great March of Return and the Palestinian Land Day.
The Gaza Health Ministry said three 17-year-old Palestinians were killed and 316 others injured during the demonstration. Another Palestinian was also shot and killed early on Saturday morning near the Gaza fence before the rally.