Israel has 'no choice' but to lift siege on Gaza: Hamas

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Israel has “no choice” but to lift its 12-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian resistance faction Hamas, which has governed the strip since 2007, said in a Friday statement.

“We will continue staging our peaceful demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone while employing all peaceful means of pressuring Israel,” the statement read.

“The Zionist occupation has no choice but to meet our people’s demands for an end to the siege,” it added.

Hamas goes on to stress the important role played by Palestinian women in the ongoing struggle against blockade and occupation.

“Today, women are standing side by side with our men and our revolutionary youth -- along with others from all walks of life -- to take part in the rallies,” the group said in the statement.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Friday’s demonstration in Gaza is being held under the banner, “Friday of the Palestinian woman”.

Since Palestinians began holding regular demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone almost one year ago, more than 250 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli army gunfire.

Demonstrators demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.