Great Return March

GAZA CITY — During a non-violent commemoration of the beginning of the Great Return March and Palestine’s Land Day, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) snipers killed four people in Gaza, three of them minors, and shot six journalists and three medical volunteers — all of whom were clearly marked in press or medical-team vests. In addition to the four fatalities, an estimated 244 Palestinians were injured, including 56 children and 15 women, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

UNITED NATIONS — As the Great March of Return roared past its half-year anniversary last Friday, it also seemed to reach levels of resistance and repression not seen in months.
The escalation aims to “put more pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities, hoping they meet the protesters’ demands — lifting the siege and recognizing the right to return,” a spokesperson for the Hamas movement told MintPress News.
Every Friday since March 30, the demonstration has mobilized thousands of Palestinians to a military barrier erected by Israel around the Gaza Strip.

Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, has a long history of opposing Palestine at the UN, whether in the General Assembly or through the Security Council, and of supporting Israel’s lethal actions against Palestinians on the Gaza Strip, most notably during the recent massacres which took place during the Great March of Return, during which many dozens were killed and thousands more i

(FAIR) — Israel massacred 60 Palestinians on Monday, including seven children, bringing to 101 the total number of Palestinians Israel has killed since Palestinians began the Great March on March 30. In that period, Israel has killed 11 Palestinian children, two journalists, one person on crutches and three persons with disabilities. Monday’s casualties included 1,861 wounded, bringing total injuries inflicted […]

[Prefatory Note: Slightly revised at the end.]
 
GAZA: Grief, Horror, Outrage, Remembering
 
GRIEF
 
How can one not feel intense grief for the young Palestinians who out of despair and fury joined the Great March of Return, and so often found death and severe injury awaiting them as they approached the border unarmed!!?
 

GAZA — Palestine’s Great Return March protests at the Gaza border, which commenced with the commemoration of Land Day on March 30 and are set to continue until the Nakba anniversary on May 15, have propelled Israel’s penchant for killing Palestinians to the fore. So far, 45 Palestinians have been killed by snipers and over 7,200 injured while demonstrating at the border for their right to return as enshrined in UN Resolution 194.

By Mike Merryman-Lotze | CounterPunch | April 27, 2018 Once again, the Israeli military has turned its guns on Gaza — this time on unarmed protestors, in a series of shootings over the last few weeks. Gaza’s already under-resourced hospitals are straining to care for the 1,600 protesters who have been injured, on top of […]

Israeli forces responded to several thousand Palestinian protestors in Gaza with live fire this weekend: killing 17 and injuring over 1,400. The United Nations and European Union urged a “transparent and independent” investigation into Israel’s Gaza massacre. The United States has already blocked a UN statement on the matter.
 About 30,000 Palestinians planned the protests to take place on Friday, March 30th. Dubbed the “Great Return March,” demonstrators seek to lift the devastating Israeli siege on the Gaza strip and assert their right to return home.
 

MEMO | March 29, 2018 Israel on Thursday threatened to assassinate top Hamas leaders in the event of any major “escalations” during mass demonstrations planned for Friday in the blockaded Gaza Strip. “We will not allow Hamas leaders to continue to hide in Gaza while women and children are sent to the border fence,” Israeli […]

MEMO | March 28, 2018 The Israeli army will use live ammunition to disperse planned Friday rallies in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel’s army chief-of-staff. “We are reinforcing the barriers [along the Gaza-Israel border] while large numbers of [Israeli] soldiers will be stationed in the area to prevent infiltration attempts,” Israeli Army Chief-of-Staff Gadi […]