At least 134 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli gunfire as thousands of Palestinian women demonstrated along the heavily fortified fence with Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Today it was mostly Palestinian women who took part in the ongoing Great Return March protest in Gaza.
But this is how the Israeli military treated them…. pic.twitter.com/mF5rnuI9Ly
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) July 3, 2018
Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesperson for Gaza’s health ministry, said in a statement on Tuesday that media representatives covering the event were among those who were injured at the scene, east of the enclave.
The eastern separation fence between the besieged Gaza Strip and the Occupied territories of Palestine witnessed a huge turnout of female protesters on Tuesday as part of the #GreatReturnMarch demonstrations. One of the participants answers why Palestinian women risk their live. pic.twitter.com/Eac7C4VASm
— Great Return March (@GreatReturnMa) July 3, 2018
The protest was the first mass women’s demonstration to take place in the strip since popular protests calling for Palestinians’ right of return began on March 30 in the strip.
A Palestinian female protester defies the Israeli snipers and raises the Palestinian flag on top of the eastern Gaza seprataion fence during today's Great March of Return. pic.twitter.com/gVzelTV7i0
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 3, 2018
Palestinians in the strip have taken part in the protests, dubbed the Great March of Return, calling for their right of return to the homes from which they were expelled from in 1948 during a violent ethnic cleansing campaign that forcibly expelled more than 750,000 Palestinians from their towns and villages.
Join us & support our #WomenUnderSiege � #WomensMarchGaza on Tuesday 3/7/2018, 5-7 O’clock #Gaza time, organized by the national committee for Great Return March & Breaking the Siege. #GreatReturnMarch #GazaMassacre #GazaBleeds #FreePalestine #LiftTheSiege pic.twitter.com/ADJ5am4nxQ
— Women For Palestine (@WomenForPal) June 30, 2018
They have also been demonstrating against the Israeli-Egyptian land, sea and naval blockade that has been in place since 2006 when Hamas – the party governing the strip – came to power.
Women on Tuesday arrived in buses from across the port city, home to more than two million people, many accompanied by their children.
#Yemen stands in solidarity with the women of Gaza.#WomensMarchGaza #WomenUnderSiege #GreatReturnMarch pic.twitter.com/VZ6qty69fz
— Women For Palestine (@WomenForPal) July 4, 2018
They moved in groups to within 50 meters of the fence, AFP reported.
“I came to finish the march that my daughter had started,” Rim Abu Irmana said, waving a picture of her 15-year-old daughter, Wasal, who was killed by live Israeli ammunition on May 14 – the same day more than 60 other Palestinians were also killed.
Retweeted alQuds (@palestine_bs):#قروب_فلسطيني
Updates: Thousands of Palestinian Women are gathering east of Gaza City for women March#WomenUnderSiege pic.twitter.com/4HtT6SghGe— RevHumanRights (@revhumanrights) July 3, 2018
May 14, which commemorated the 70 years since the Nakba, coincided with the controversial US embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Holding the hand of her young son, Irmana said:
“These demonstrations are peaceful. We are only defending our land and our rights.”
#GazaStrip#GreatReturnMarch
Tuesday, 3 July, the High Committee of the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege is organizing the first women’s march since the protests began on 30 March.
.@jimmy_dore
.@Ocasio2018
.@swilkinsonbc
.@Omar_Gaza
?Read: https://t.co/PI9HquxGyf pic.twitter.com/JgxRJARoyT— If Americans Knew (@ifamericansknew) June 29, 2018
Since Palestinians began staging mass rallies near the Gaza-Israeli fence on March 30, scores of protesters have been killed and thousands more injured by Israeli army gunfire.
(AJE, PC, Social Media)
