03 July 2018•Update: 04 July 2018
By Mohamed Majid
GAZA CITY, Palestine
Hundreds of Palestinian women on Tuesday converged along the Gaza-Israel security fence to take part in ongoing demonstrations against Israel’s decades-long occupation.
In a statement, the women’s committee of Gaza’s National Authority for Breaking the Siege called on Palestinian women to take part in the rallies, which first began on March 30.
“We are demonstrating today for a just cause: to end the years-long blockade of Gaza and return to our land that has been stolen by Israel,” committee member Iktimal Hamad told Anadolu Agency.
“Palestinian women have paid dearly for Palestine,” she added. “We will not give up our land or our legitimate rights.”
The Israeli army shot a young Palestinian who was waving a Turkish flag, Anadolu Agency correspondents reported from the scene.
Despite his injury, the Palestinian continued to hold the Turkish flag while he was being transferred by the medical staff to the ambulance.
During the “return march”, many young people had raised the Turkish flag and held pictures of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a show of their support and love for Turkey.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman said some 134 people were injured during the demonstrations.
Ashraf al-Qidra said: “134 Palestinians were injured and affected by gas due to the Israeli army's intervention on a women’s march on the eastern Gaza border."
Since the rallies in Gaza first began more than three months ago, more than 135 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire.
Protesters demand the “right of 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 the 11-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
