A sign at a protest in Gaza, April 2018. Photo credit: The Great March of Return Committee.
For the third Friday in a row, tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip participated in the Return Greater March. Palestinians congregated at five areas on the border of the besieged coastal enclave: east of Rafah, east of Khan Younis, east of el-Braij and east of Gaza City.
Protesters united this week through the action of raising the Palestinian flag. Thousands of Palestinian flags were waved at the border. Participants described the action as a visual call for freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. Political parties refrained from raising party flags in favor of waving the national flag.
Israeli flags where burned because the Israeli flag symbolizes the occupation and injustice, Palestinians in Gaza explained.
Israeli soldiers responded to the protests as they did to previous Great Return Marches: soldiers stationed along the fence that besieges Gaza and attacked peaceful protesters with live fire, rubber coated bullets and tear gas. Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and injured hundreds of others on Friday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israeli soldiers also wounded six journalists on Friday. Two are in critical condition: a journalist for the People’s Voice Radio and Mohammed el Hajajr. The other four injured journalists are said to be in stable but critical condition. The journalists were targeted despite the vests and hardhats they wear emblazoned with the word “Press.”
The Committee for the Great Return March said that protests would continue to take place each Friday in Gaza until Nakba Day, May 15, 2018. The committee emphasizes that the marches will continue to be peaceful, despite the lethal response of the Israeli military.
Including the killing that took place on Friday, Israeli soldiers have killed 33 Palestinian protesters since the Great Return March started on March 30, 2018. Approximately 2,000 other Palestinians sustained injuries.
In the West Bank on Friday, Israeli soldiers attacked a protest at a checkpoint in al-Birah and injured 39 Palestinians. Seven were injured with live fire, nine with rubber bullets and many others suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation. The soldiers assaulted six paramedics of the Medical Relief Association.
Ahmad Jaradat is the Senior Project Coordinator of the Alternative Information Center.