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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
    Asharq Al-Awsat
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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.

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Airlines Including Lufthansa Cautiously Plan to Resume Some Middle East Flights

An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
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Airlines Including Lufthansa Cautiously Plan to Resume Some Middle East Flights

An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
An Airbus A320-214 passenger aircraft of Lufthansa airline, takes off from Malaga-Costa del Sol airport, in Malaga, Spain, May 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

Germany's Lufthansa Group is set to resume flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel from Feb. 1 and Wizz Air restarted its London to Tel Aviv route on Thursday, the companies said following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Many Western carriers cancelled flights to swaths of the Middle East in recent months, including Beirut and Tel Aviv, as conflict tore across the region. Airlines also avoided Iraqi and Iranian airspace out of fear of getting accidentally caught in drone or missile warfare.

Wizz Air also resumed flights to Amman, Jordan starting on Thursday from London Luton airport.

Lufthansa Group carriers Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss were included in Lufthansa's decision to resume flights to Tel Aviv.

Ryanair said it was hoping to run a full summer schedule to and from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv in an interview with Reuters last week, before the ceasefire deal was announced.

In the wake of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Turkish Airlines said it would start flights to Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Jan. 23, with three flights per week.

CAUTIOUS RETURN

But airlines remain cautious and watchful before re-entering the region in full, they said.

British carrier EasyJet told Reuters it welcomed the news of the Gaza ceasefire and would review its plans in the coming days.

Air France-KLM said its operations to and from Tel Aviv remain suspended until Jan. 24, while its flights between Paris and Beirut will be suspended until Jan. 31.

"The operations will resume on the basis of an assessment of the situation on the ground," it said in a statement.

The suspension of Lufthansa flights to and from Tehran up to and including Feb. 14 remains in place and the airline will not fly to Beirut in Lebanon up to and including Feb. 28, it said.