GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are expected to take to the fence separating the enclave and the occupied territories in a number of locations in the upcoming days, unofficial sources in Gaza have reported.
On Tuesday night, demonstrations were expected in Rafiah, located in the southern part of the strip. A day later rallies will take place in Khan Younes.
According to Israeli media reports, the demonstrations will take place at night. Such activities involving thousands of participants were common in 2018, when the Palestinians initiated March of Return rallies after the U.S. decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Al-Quds. The protests were also meant to express outrage over the ongoing blockade imposed by the Zionist regime.
But those came to a halt in 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip and the desire of the local authorities to curb the spread of the virus by banning mass gatherings.
Now, it seems, these demonstrations are making a comeback. The protesters, among other things, demand an end to the Israeli blockade on the coastal strip which has been in place since 2007.
The UN envoy for the so-called Middle East peace process told the Security Council on Monday that the Zionist blockade of the Gaza Strip needs to be lifted fully.
“Although movement and access in and out of Gaza should be further improved, no amount of humanitarian or economic support on its own will address the challenges facing Gaza,” said Tor Wennesland. “The current gradual approach is a holding operation and not a strategic way forward and a solution for the people in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, Zionist troops detained at least 18 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds, the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) said on Tuesday.
Kamal Bani-Odeh, the PPS director, said the occupying regime troops had rounded up a Palestinian man after storming his family house in Tammun town, northeast of Tubas city in the West Bank.
The military raid led to confrontations between local Palestinians and Zionist troops, during which the heavily-armed forces opened fire at teenage children, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.
In Salfit, a governorate in the central West Bank, the marauding Zionist troops barged inside the town of Deir Istiya, where they detained at least three locals besides assaulting one another.
They also ransacked houses belonging to the families of detainees, razing them down.
In Ramallah, a city in central West Bank, the Wafa report quoting informed sources said Zionist troops raided al-Masayef neighborhood, detaining a Palestinian man.