Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Gaza’s Friday Border Protests Canceled

A female demonstrator runs for cover during a protest where Palestinians demand the right to return to their homeland, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Organizers canceled the main weekly protests along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday, for only the second time in more than a year.

They said a large demonstration had already been held in Gaza on Wednesday to commemorate what Palestinians call the nakba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel.

"Today there are no activities in the 'return camps' in the east of the Gaza Strip, due to the high temperature and to provide a break to citizens, who held a large protest two days ago," the organizing committee said in a statement.

The "march of return" demonstrations along the perimeter fence dividing Gaza and Israel have been held at least weekly since March 2018, with the backing of Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Friday protests were canceled just once before -- after a flare-up between Israel and Hamas in March.

Protesters have been demanding an end to Israel's more than decade-old blockade of Gaza and the right for Palestinian refugees to return to ancestral lands now inside Israel.

At least 293 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the protests began, the majority during the protests.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.