‘Million-Man March’ to Test Gaza Calm

Palestinian demonstrators protest at the Israel-Gaza border fence, in the central Gaza Strip January 25, 2019. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ REUTERS)
Palestinian demonstrators protest at the Israel-Gaza border fence, in the central Gaza Strip January 25, 2019. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ REUTERS)
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‘Million-Man March’ to Test Gaza Calm

Palestinian demonstrators protest at the Israel-Gaza border fence, in the central Gaza Strip January 25, 2019. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ REUTERS)
Palestinian demonstrators protest at the Israel-Gaza border fence, in the central Gaza Strip January 25, 2019. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ REUTERS)

A “million-man march” planned Saturday in the Gaza Strip along the border with Israel would constitute a test for Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the enclave.

Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday that Egyptian officials asked the factions to keep their March of Return peaceful and exercise restraint.

The Israeli army has deployed additional forces around the Strip, ahead of the planned protests that are set to mark the one-year anniversary of the weekly demonstrations along the frontier with Israel.

Khaled al-Batsh, head of the National Authority for the Great March of Return, the body that launched the weekly protests in March 2018, called for a peaceful rally on Saturday.

His request came after an Egyptian security delegation met Friday, for the third time in two days, with Palestinian factions in Gaza to complete talks over a truce in the enclave.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that Israel's response to its demands will effect how the "million-man march" will play out.

Hamas launched the weekly protests a year ago, initially to call for a return of Palestinian refugees to their ancestral lands in what is now Israel.

The focus of the demonstrations has been expanded to pressuring Israel into lifting its crippling blockade of the coastal enclave. 

Meanwhile, sources in Tel Aviv said Israeli officials were hinting at carrying out a large-scale military operation in an attempt to limit the number of crowds in Saturday's planned march.

This week’s protests coincide with Land Day, an annual day of commemoration of the events that took place in Israel in 1976, after the Israeli government’s decision to expropriate thousands of hectares in the Galilee.



Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
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Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark February 5, 2025. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS/File Photo

Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top UN expert on Palestinian rights, after the United States imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.

Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.

She has long criticized Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and this month published a report accusing over 60 companies, including some US firms, of supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and military actions in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work which had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged Washington to reverse course.

"Even in the face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures," he said, Reuters reported.

Juerg Lauber, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN who now holds the rotating presidency of the Human Rights Council, said he regretted the sanctions, and called on states to "refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal" against the body's experts.

Mariana Katzarova, who serves as the special rapporteur for human rights in Russia, said her concern was that other countries would follow the US lead.

"This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same," she told Reuters. "It is an attack on UN system as a whole. Member states must stand up and denounce this."

Russia has rejected Katzarova's mandate and refused to let her enter the country, but it has so far stopped short of publicly adding her to a sanctions list.

Washington has already imposed sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for suspected war crimes in Gaza. Another court, the International Court of Justice, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide.

Israel denies that its forces have carried out war crimes or genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza, which was precipitated by an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023.

"The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely," said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

The group's former head, Kenneth Roth, called the US sanctions an attempt "to deter prosecution of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza".

The United States, once one of the most active members of the Human Rights Council, has disengaged from it under President Donald Trump, alleging an anti-Israel bias.