GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime has been forced to ease some of its restrictions on the Gaza Strip after days of protests by Palestinians at Gaza fence separating coastal enclave from the occupied territories.
“Following a security assessment and approved by the political echelon, it has been decided to expand the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip to 15 nautical miles, as well as to completely open the Kerem Shalom Crossing, for the passage of equipment and goods,” COGAT, the occupying regime’s military body responsible for civilian affairs in the occupied territories, said in a statement on Wednesday morning.
“In addition, the water supply to the Gaza Strip will be increased by additional 5 million cubic meters,” it said, adding that the number of Gazan merchants with permits to pass through the Erez crossing would be increased from 2,000 to 7,000.
Gazans began organizing protests last week, demanding that the crossings be reopened to facilitate the entry of goods and humanitarian aid.
The resistance groups in Gaza asserted that the protests would continue until the Zionist regime lifts its siege.
COGAT said that its measures were “conditional upon the continued preservation of the region’s security stability for the long term.”
The Gaza Strip has been under siege by the Zionist regime since 2007. Tensions have spiked along the fence in recent weeks over the regime’s tight blockade, including deliberate hampering of efforts to reconstruct the strip following its latest war on Gaza.
Palestine has called on the United Nations General Assembly to take “responsible and serious” action to end the Zionist regime’s occupation, more than seven decades into the adoption of Resolution 181, which called for the partition of Palestine and sealed a truly unjust fate for its local residents.
“Only accountability can alter the downward trajectory of the situation on the ground” towards support for Palestinian rights, including self-determination,” Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations Feda Abdelhady-Nasser said in a statement.
She said recent developments have highlighted the seriousness of the situation, which has witnessed the Zionist regime annexing Palestinian lands, exercising apartheid policies against them and depriving them of all their fundamental human rights.
Abdelhady-Nasser added that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a highly negative impact on the living and working conditions of Palestinians, as reflected in the grave humanitarian situation in the besieged Gaza Strip.