Gazans prepare for ‘Friday of Palestinian Workers’ next week
The Higher National Committee of the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege on Friday evening announced that the sixth Friday of the Great March of Return will have the name “Friday of Palestinian Workers”.
Since the International Workers’ Day falls on 1st May next Tuesday, the Committee in a statement called on the Palestinian workers who have been unemployed for years due to siege and the difficult humanitarian situation to raise their voice and participate in the coming protests.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, three Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli gunfire while taking part in the Great March of Return on Friday near Gaza’s border with the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories.
At least 46 Palestinians have been killed and over 6,000 injured since the launch of the Great March of Return on 30th March to mark the Palestinian Land Day and demand the Palestinian refugees’ right of return.
In a separate statement, the Legal Committee of the Great March of Return condemned Israel’s use of lethal force against peaceful protesters for the fifth week in a row.
The Committee said, based on testimonies by Gaza doctors, that the Israeli snipers deliberately shoot the unarmed protesters in the upper and lower parts of their bodies with the aim of killing them or causing them permanent disabilities.
The statement underlined that Israel uses explosive bullets and other toxic weapons which severely harm the bodies of the targeted demonstrators.
The Committee denounced the latest US statements that children in Gaza are used as human shields during the protests, saying that such statements would encourage the Israeli forces to commit more crimes against the Palestinian people including further killing of children.
It called on the international community, the UN Human Rights Council and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention to assume their moral and legal responsibilities and provide protection to the civilians taking part in the Great March of Return including medical staff, journalists, children, women and people with disabilities.
