UPDATE WITH CASUALTIES
By Mohamed Majed
GAZA, Palestine (AA) – At least 30 Palestinian protestors were wounded on Friday after being targeted by Israeli army forces while protesting near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, Palestine’s health ministry said.
The Israeli soldiers wounded 16 out of the 30 protestors by live ammunition, the ministry added in a brief statement without elaborating on the other wounded.
Hundreds of Palestinians converged earlier Friday near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone for ongoing protests since March of last year against decades-long Israeli occupation.
Gaza’s National Authority for Return and Breaking the Siege (NARBS), which organizes weekly rallies, called on Palestinians to demonstrate this Friday under the slogan of “by our unity the plot will be downed,” apparently in reference to the U.S.-led conference hosted last month by Bahrain’s Manama where the economic part of the U.S. compromise plan on Middle East, dubbed “the Deal of the Century,” was unveiled.
Since March of last year, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have held weekly rallies along the buffer zone to demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the establishment of Israel.
They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
Since the rallies began more than one year ago, hundreds of protesters have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone in eastern Gaza Strip.
U.S. President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner said Wednesday that the next steps in Washington's Middle East peace plan will be revealed next week, according to the news site Axios.
When Kushner unveiled the economic portion of the plan, he refrained to disclose the more anticipated political portion of it.
Based on leaks to the media, the “Deal of the Century” will call on the Palestinians to make major concessions to Israel regarding Jerusalem’s status and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in historical Palestine.