AFP, Gaza City :
Palestinians in Gaza pitched tents near the volatile border with Israel on Thursday ahead of a six-week protest camp under the gaze of wary Israeli soldiers.
The protest is dubbed “The Great March of Return” and has the backing of the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
It comes amid rising tensions as the United States prepares to move its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.
Organisers said the demonstration would be peaceful but Israeli officials are wary of a fresh flare-up along the enclave’s border.
Five Palestinians were shot Thursday evening, the health ministry in Gaza said, after protestors approached the border in several places. Armed forces chief Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot has warned of escalating tensions along Israel’s borders.
He said reinforcements, including more than 100 special forces snipers, had been deployed near Gaza and the army was prepared for all scenarios.
“We won’t allow mass infiltration into Israel” or damage to the border barrier, he told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
“The instructions are to use a lot of force.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, labelled the protest an “organised planned provocation” and reiterated “Israel’s right to defend its sovereignty and protect its citizens.” The first protest will start Friday when Palestinians mark Land Day, commemorating the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976.
Camping and protests in Gaza are expected to continue until mid-May, when the US is set to inaugurate its controversial new embassy in Jerusalem.
Mid-May will also mark the anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, which saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee their homes in the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. According to the United Nations, some 1.3 million of Gaza’s 1.9 million residents are refugees or their descendants. Khaled al-Batsh, one of the protest organisers, said tents would be pitched 500 metres (yards) from the border, just outside the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel.
Water facilities were being installed and medical teams deployed to allow people to stay for long periods.
Palestinians in Gaza pitched tents near the volatile border with Israel on Thursday ahead of a six-week protest camp under the gaze of wary Israeli soldiers.
The protest is dubbed “The Great March of Return” and has the backing of the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
It comes amid rising tensions as the United States prepares to move its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.
Organisers said the demonstration would be peaceful but Israeli officials are wary of a fresh flare-up along the enclave’s border.
Five Palestinians were shot Thursday evening, the health ministry in Gaza said, after protestors approached the border in several places. Armed forces chief Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot has warned of escalating tensions along Israel’s borders.
He said reinforcements, including more than 100 special forces snipers, had been deployed near Gaza and the army was prepared for all scenarios.
“We won’t allow mass infiltration into Israel” or damage to the border barrier, he told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
“The instructions are to use a lot of force.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, labelled the protest an “organised planned provocation” and reiterated “Israel’s right to defend its sovereignty and protect its citizens.” The first protest will start Friday when Palestinians mark Land Day, commemorating the killing of six unarmed Arab protesters in Israel in 1976.
Camping and protests in Gaza are expected to continue until mid-May, when the US is set to inaugurate its controversial new embassy in Jerusalem.
Mid-May will also mark the anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, which saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee their homes in the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. According to the United Nations, some 1.3 million of Gaza’s 1.9 million residents are refugees or their descendants. Khaled al-Batsh, one of the protest organisers, said tents would be pitched 500 metres (yards) from the border, just outside the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel.
Water facilities were being installed and medical teams deployed to allow people to stay for long periods.
