By Mohamed Majed
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – For the 39th consecutive Friday, Palestinians converged along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone to take part in ongoing demonstrations against Israel’s decades-long occupation.
This Friday’s Gaza rally was held under the slogan, “Honoring heroes of the resistance”.
In a statement, Gaza’s National Authority for Breaking the Siege urged members of the public to take part in Friday’s demonstration.
“These demonstrations draw their strength from the heroes of the resistance and from their sacrifices,” the statement read.
It went on to urge the Palestinian people to “escalate all forms of resistance against Israel’s occupation”.
Protesters demand the right 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 12-year blockade of 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 first began on March 30, more than 210 Palestinians have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone.