Hamas is reported to be planning a ‘million man march’ to mark the one year anniversary of the ‘March of Return’ protests held last year on the Israel-Gaza border.
The Israel Defense Forces is preparing for tens of thousands of Palestinians to gather along the Israel-Gaza border next weekend in anticipation of the march, set to take place on 29th March.
According to IDF assessments, Hamas will not only try to reenact previous marches attended by thousands of Gazans, but will seek to surpass them by transporting more than 50,000 people to the main protest points along the border fence.
The IDF is said to be doubling the amount of troops that will be deployed along the Gaza border in order to foil any infiltration attempts by hostile Palestinians into Israel and prevent attacks at the border town communities.
There are 28 Israeli communities living within 5km of the Gaza border fence, with a total population of 37,656. Some communities, such as Kibbutzim Erez, Kfar Aza and Nahal Oz, lie only a few hundred metres from the border.
Last year, Hamas Prime Minister, Yahya Sinwar, described the stated aim of the attempts to breach the border as follows: “We will take down the border and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies”.
Palestinian Facebook pages with thousands of followers requested people to bring a “knife, dagger or gun if available” but hide them under their clothes and not use them except where there is a need to capture soldiers or residents of Israel. Facebook later removed the posts for inciting violence.
The use of stone throwing was widespread in the riots, as well as firebombs being hurled towards the border fence and Israel’s security forces. Many protesters carried wire-cutters, knives and meat cleavers whilst charging towards the border.
Of 189 Palestinians killed during the riots, at least 150 of them were found to be affiliated with Hamas or with other terrorist organisations.
