10,000 Palestinians marched along the Gaza-Israel border on Wednesday, after the territory’s Hamas rulers announced a general strike and closed schools to mark the annual event of Nakba Day.
Defiant Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders said that the Palestinian struggle against Israel will continue until the “liberation of all Palestine”.
Senior Hamas official Fathi Hammad said in a speech during a rally attended, that he was confident that the Palestinians were headed toward “victory and uprooting the Zionist enemy from our land”.
Addressing Israeli leaders, Hammad said: “Go away, the day of your slaughter and elimination is nearing. You have no place in Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa”.
Each year Palestinians mark the Nakba (“catastrophe”) when 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were displaced after Israel’s Arab neighbours invaded the new state in 1948.
Despite tensions, the protests passed without major incident in comparison to last year’s deadly protest. 65 people were injured after Israeli forces used live fire and tear gas to disperse riots, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said.
Despite tensions, the protests passed without major incident in comparison to last year’s deadly protest. 65 people were injured after Israeli forces used live fire and tear gas to disperse riots, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said.
The Gaza-based terror group Islamic Jihad said in a statement on the day that it remains committed to the “liberation of all Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River”. The group called on all Palestinians to rally behind “the option of jihad [holy war] and resistance” and to continue the weekly protests along the Gaza-Israel border.
