Palestinian Factions Say to Scale Back Protests on Israel-Gaza Border

In this Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 file photo, A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Organizers of the weekly Palestinian demonstrations along the Gaza Strip's frontier with Israel say they will significantly scale down the gatherings in 2020. AP
In this Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 file photo, A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Organizers of the weekly Palestinian demonstrations along the Gaza Strip's frontier with Israel say they will significantly scale down the gatherings in 2020. AP
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Palestinian Factions Say to Scale Back Protests on Israel-Gaza Border

In this Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 file photo, A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Organizers of the weekly Palestinian demonstrations along the Gaza Strip's frontier with Israel say they will significantly scale down the gatherings in 2020. AP
In this Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 file photo, A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, Organizers of the weekly Palestinian demonstrations along the Gaza Strip's frontier with Israel say they will significantly scale down the gatherings in 2020. AP

Palestinians in Gaza will scale back protests along the border with Israel, factions in the strip said on Thursday.

For nearly 20 months, Palestinians have held weekly demonstrations dubbed the "Great March of Return", which have often turned violent as people throw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops who respond by shooting with live fire, Reuters reported.

Gaza medical officials say 214 Palestinians have been killed since the Friday protests began in March 2018.

However, the protests have tapered off in recent months.

The Higher National Committee, a collection of Gaza-based factions and civil society organizations which organize the protests, said there will be a protest this Friday but that demonstrations thereafter would be held monthly and on national occasions.

The protesters have called for an end to a security blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel and for Palestinians to have the right to return to land from which their families fled or were forced to flee during Israel’s 1948 founding.

Israel rejects any such return, saying that would eliminate its Jewish majority.

Israel seized Gaza in a 1967 war and pulled out its settlers and troops in 2005.



Death Toll in Israeli Strikes on Gaza Rises to 77 since Ceasefire Deal

Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Death Toll in Israeli Strikes on Gaza Rises to 77 since Ceasefire Deal

Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Israel airstrikes killed at least 77 people in Gaza overnight on Thursday, residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The complex ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US to stop the war that has devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East.
The deal, scheduled to be implemented from Sunday, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by militant group Hamas, which controls the enclave, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
The deal also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the majority of the population has been displaced and is facing acute food shortages, food security experts warned late last year.
Rows of aid trucks were lined up in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish waiting to cross into Gaza, once the border is reopened, Reuters reported.
Israel's acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country's security cabinet and government, and a vote was slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements.
"The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
Hamas senior official Izzat el-Reshiq said on Thursday the group is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
For some Palestinians, the deal could not come soon enough.
"We lose homes every hour. We demand for this joy not to go away, the joy that was drawn on our faces - don't waste it by delaying the implementation of the truce until Sunday," Gazan man Mahmoud Abu Wardeh said.