- Title: Palestinians mass at Gaza border to mark protest anniversary
- Date: 30th March 2019
- Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (MARCH 30, 2019) (REUTERS) AMBULANCE DRIVING AT BORDER AREA, PROTESTERS GATHERED AMBULANCE AT BORDER AREA VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED AT BORDER PROTEST PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS RUNNING DURING PROTEST PROTESTERS GATHERED AT BORDER AREA NEAR NAHAL OZ, ISRAEL (MARCH 30, 2019) (REUTERS) VIEW OF PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS GATHERED AT BORDER AREA, FROM ISRAELI SIDE VIEW OF GAS AT THE GAZA SIDE OF THE BORDER VIEW OF PROTESTERS GATHERED AT BORDER AREA, ISRAELI FORCES VEHICLE ARRIVING AT THE ISRAELI SIDE OF THE BORDER LARGE PALESTINIAN FLAG FLYING, PROTESTERS GATHERED AT BORDER AREA ISRAELI FORCES AT ISRAELI SIDE OF THE BORDER PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS GATHERED AT THE GAZA SIDE OF THE BORDER VARIOUS OF ISRAELI FORCES VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS GATHERED AT BORDER AREA GAZA CITY, GAZA (MARCH 30, 2019) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS WALKING AT BORDER AREA PROTESTERS STANDING NEAR BORDER VARIOUS OF AMBULANCES DRIVING FIELD HOSPITAL AT BORDER AREA AMBULANCES PARKED NEAR FIELD HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF FOOD STAND AT BORDER AREA VIEW OF VIEW OF ISRAELI FORCES VEHICLE DRIVING NEAR BORDER PALESTINIAN FLAG FLYING
- Embargoed: 13th April 2019 12:45
- Keywords: Israel Palestinians Gaza border protests violence Hamas Gaza-Israel border
- Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA / NEAR NAHAL OZ, ISRAEL
- City: GAZA CITY, GAZA / NEAR NAHAL OZ, ISRAEL
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA003A87PIDJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of Palestinians rallied at the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday (March 30) to mark the first anniversary of a surge of protests, facing off against Israeli forces massed across the frontier.
Troops fired tear gas across the border while Palestinian activists clad in bright orange vests tried to keep people away from the border fence. The Israeli military said some demonstrators were throwing rocks and burning tyres.
Tensions rose this week ahead of the commemoration of the 'Great March of Return' protests, which began on March 30, 2018. Fighting flared when a Gaza rocket attack wounded seven Israelis north of Tel Aviv on Monday (March 25). In response, Israel launched a wave of air strikes and ramped up its forces at the border.
The protests have turned deadly in the past and Egyptian mediators were working to avoid further bloodshed. Leaders of Gazan armed groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said that progress had been made in the truce talks.
With security already featuring prominently as an issue in Israeli elections due on April 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of Gaza will be a key issue as he seeks a fifth term in office.
The protests call for the lifting of a security blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, and for Palestinians to have the right to return to land from which their families fled or were forced to flee during Israel's founding in 1948. Israel rejects that demand saying that would eliminate its Jewish majority.
March 30 also marks "Land Day", an annual commemoration of the deaths of six Arab citizens of Israel killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over government land confiscations in northern Israel in 1976.
(Production: Mohammad Shana, Eli Berzlon, Suheir Sheikh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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