Since March 30, Palestinians have been holding mass rallies near the Gaza Strip border, known as the Great March of Return. The demonstrators claim the right of return for Palestinians displaced during the 1948 war following the creation of Israel.

The Israeli military has retained a strong presence on the border to prevent Palestinian attempts to damage security infrastructure and violate Israel's sovereignty.

Dozens of protesters have been killed and over 1,000 others have been injured as Israeli forces have been suppressing the demonstrations with the use of force. The protesters intend to continue the march until May 15, when they will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the displacement. </s> Hamas leaders in Gaza have sent messages to Israel through various channels in recent months offering to negotiate a long-term ceasefire.



According to a report in the Israeli daily Haaretz on Monday, Hamas wants to tie the cease-fire to an easing of the blockade on Gaza, a green light for large-scale infrastructure projects and a prisoner exchange.





Israel has “not responded clearly” to the messages, according to Haaretz.Hamas reportedly is more open to discussing such a cease-fire since it is in “dire and unprecedented strategic distress,” the report said. In addition, reconciliation efforts between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority remain frozen in the wake of an assassination attempt in March on PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah during his visit to Gaza.PA's Hamdallah safe after explosion near convoy in Gaza, March 13, 2018 (Reuters) Hamas has called on Gazan Palestinian demonstrators to continue to protest at the border with Gaza as part of the March of Return protests, and has vowed that the protests will continue past what was supposed to be the end date, May 14, the date on the Gregorian calendar that marks Israel’s 70th birthday, and which the Arab world calls The Nakba, or The Catastrophe. The Palestinian Authority also is planning a large demonstration on that day in Ramallah in the West Bank, the seat of government of the PA.The Israel Defense Forces estimates that 70 percent of the 48 Gazan Palestinians killed in the current protests are connected to Hamas or the military wings of other terror organizations in Gaza, according to Haaretz. </s> CAIRO: An emergency meeting at the level of the permanent delegates was held at the headquarters of the Council of the Arab League on Tuesday to discuss developments of the situation in Palestine.

 The Sultanate was represented in the meeting by Dr Ali bin Ahmed al Issaee, Sultanate’s Ambassador to Egypt, its Permanent Delegate to the Council of the Arab League.

 The Arab League affirmed that the meeting was devoted to discussing Israel’s crimes against the peaceful demonstrations of the Palestinians and who took part in the march themed ‘Great Return March’ marking the Land Day last Friday’s to demand the right of return for the Palestinian refugees.

 Diab al Louh, Ambassador of Palestine to Egypt, its Permanent Representative to the Arab League, stressed the necessity of a quick intervention to provide protection to the defenceless Palestinian people, especially after the massacre committed by Israel against peaceful demonstrators in the Gaza Strip. — ONA </s> JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hamas leaders in Gaza have sent messages to Israel through various channels in recent months offering to negotiate a long-term cease-fire.

According to a report Monday in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Hamas wants to tie the cease-fire to an easing of the blockade on Gaza, a green light for large-scale infrastructure projects and a prisoner exchange.

Israel has “not responded clearly” to the messages, according to Haaretz.

Hamas reportedly is more open to discussing such a cease-fire since it is in “dire and unprecedented strategic distress,” the report said. In addition, reconciliation efforts between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority remain frozen in the wake of an assassination attempt in March on P.A. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah during his visit to Gaza.

Hamas has called on Gaza Palestinian demonstrators to continue to protest at the Gaza border as part of the March of Return protests, and has vowed that the protests will continue past what was supposed to be the end date, May 14, the date on the Gregorian calendar that marks Israel’s 70th birthday and which the Arab world calls the Nakba, or catastrophe. The Palestinian Authority also is planning a large demonstration on that day in Ramallah in the West Bank, the seat of the P.A. government.

The Israeli military estimates that 70 percent of the 48 Gaza Palestinians killed in the current protests are connected to Hamas or the military wings of other terror organizations in Gaza, according to Haaretz. </s> In response to a petition filed by human rights groups against the disproportionate use of force and live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian protesters, Israeli Army said its actions were consistent with Israeli and international laws.

The army has claimed that the Great March of Return is similar to “a state of war”, therefore, human rights laws do not apply.

Without providing any evidence, Israel claimed that during the demonstrations, “Hamas carried out acts of aggression against Israel” which prompted “sustained armed confrontation between the two sides.”

These claims have been refuted by witnesses on the ground. </s> Thousands of Palestinian protesters returned to points along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel for a fifth consecutive Friday of demonstrations dubbed the Great March of Return.

Demonstrators again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks.

Dozens of young men burned tyres and threw stones a few hundreds metres from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing at them.

Fifty people were injured by gunfire or teargas inhalation, Gaza's health ministry said.

A 22-year-old freelance photographer was among those shot, the ministry said.

Forty-one Palestinians have been killed since the demonstrations began on March 30, with hundreds more injured.

Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.

Israel says that allowing the refugees in would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence.

Demonstrations are expected to spike again in the lead up to May 14, when the United States is expected to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state.

Israel has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the deaths along Gaza's border, with the army saying its troops only use live ammunition as a last resort. </s> Several thousands of Palestinians in Gaza kicked off their six-week-long protest called the Great March of Return on Friday, March 30, after marching towards the Israel border. It was on this day in 1976 that the policemen of Israel shot dead six Palestinian citizens of Israel while they protested Tel Aviv's expropriation of huge Palestinian land.

March 30 has since been remembered as Palestine Land Day and is seen as an important date in Palestinian's political life. It is symbolic of Palestine's resistance to Israel's occupation.

On Friday, Palestinian officials said dozens of people on their side were injured in a gunfire near Jabaliya in northern Gaza strip and Rafah in the south. They had also reported before the protest about the death of a farmer in tank fire. The Israeli military, on the other hand, reported about "rioting" in as many as six places and defended the firing, saying it was aimed at the "main instigators".

The Palestinians have set up five camps near the Israel border for the six-week protest. The killing of the farmer drew a strong reaction from Hamas, the militant group that dominates the Gaza Strip, which accused the Israelis of intimidating the protesters and urging them not to join the protests.

The Israeli foreign ministry also let know its strong stand on the issue, saying the protest was a "deliberate attempt to provoke a confrontation with Israel" and held Hamas and other Palestinian organisations taking part in the protest for being solely responsible for the clashes.

The current protest is scheduled to conclude on May 15 or Nakba Day, a date which is again a memorable one for the Palestinians. It was on this day in 1948 that several thousand Palestinians were displaced over the creation of Israel.

For breaking news & Instant updates throughout the day </s> "Hamas in recent months has repeatedly expressed its willingness to begin negotiations with Israel through some channels on a long-term agreement on truce in the Gaza Strip," the media said.

According to the newspaper, high-ranking Israeli security officials have recently handed over intelligence data to the Israeli authorities, which proves that Hamas is open to dialogue on the issues it refused to discuss in the past, since the movement is currently in an "unprecedented crisis."

The media went on explaining that "there has been a deep split in the Hamas movement as it was looking for a way out of the desperate situation in the Gaza Strip, which suffers economic crisis, sanctions from the Palestinian National Authority, pressure over the Israeli-Egyptian blockade as well as growing internal unrest."

This is not the first media report on problems and disagreements within the movement. Earlier, the newspaper Israel Hayoom said that in the Hamas leadership there were disputes whether to accept Egypt's offer to suspend "March of Return" protests which have been staged in Gaza on the border with Israel since late March.

Demonstrations on the Palestinian-Israeli border have been continuing for the sixth consecutive week already. According to representatives of the Gaza health ministry, more than 430 Palestinians got injuries, whereas 48 protesters were killed.

Israel and Egypt established a blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2007, when the Hamas movement took control of the Gaza Strip. Last year, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas took a number of measures against the Gaza border region, including the suspension of payments to Israel for electricity and cut salaries for thousands of civil servants. </s> GAZA, Palestinian Territory — Israeli soldiers firing Friday from across a border fence killed four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, and wounded more than 150, health officials said, as several thousands of people in blockaded Gaza staged a fourth round of weekly protests on the border with Israel.

Huge black plumes of smoke from burning tires engulfed the border area. Some of the activists threw stones toward the fence or flew kites with flaming rags dangling from their tails.

The latest deaths brought to 32 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in protests since late March. More than 1,600 have been wounded by live rounds in the past three weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The rising Palestinian casualty toll signalled that Israel’s military is sticking to its open-fire rules despite international criticism of the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters. Israel says it’s defending its border, and alleges Gaza’s ruling Hamas uses protests as cover for attacks.

Israeli soldiers are positioned on the other side of the border fence, including snipers taking cover behind earthen berms, and none have been hurt.

Turnout for the marches has fluctuated, with the biggest showing on March 30, but Friday’s crowd appeared to have been somewhat larger than the one the previous week.

The marches are part of what organizers, led by Hamas, have billed as an escalating showdown with Israel, to culminate in a mass march on May 15.

The top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Friday that people should get ready for large numbers of people spilling across the border that day. “Our people will outnumber the occupation and force it from our land,” he said, referring to Israel.

Hamas says the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections.

The marches also press for a “right of return” of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from homes in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation. Palestinians mark May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s founding, as their “nakba,” or catastrophe, to mourn their mass uprooting.

“We will stay here until we reclaim our lands,” said Ahmed Nasman, 21, speaking in a protest tent camp east of Gaza City, as activists near him prepared kites. “Every day, we will come here with a new way to resist them,” he said, referring to Israel.

Several thousand protesters flocked to the border area Friday, most gathering in five tent camps several hundred meters (yards) away from the border. Smaller groups advanced toward the fence, throwing stones, burning tires and flying kites with burning rags.

The kites are part of a new tactic aimed at setting fields on the Israeli side on fire. Most kites showed the colours of the Palestinian flag. One white kite bore a Nazi swastika.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli military aircraft had dropped leaflets urging Palestinians to stay away from the fence and warning that they endanger their lives if they follow Hamas directives.

While Hamas and smaller Palestinian factions have taken a lead as organizers, the mass marches are also fueled by growing desperation among Gaza’s 2 million residents.

The border blockade has trapped nearly all of them in the tiny coastal territory, gutted the economy and deepened poverty. Gaza residents typically get fewer than five hours of electricity per day, while unemployment has soared above 40 per cent.
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Yehiyeh Sinwar, a top Hamas official, told activists that even if conditions are tough, “we will not bargain on the Palestinian people’s rights in exchange for bread.”

Israel has accused Hamas of cynically exploiting Gaza civilians for its political aims. Hamas critics say the group’s refusal to disarm has been a key obstacle to ending the blockade.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said those killed Friday included three men in their 20s and a 15-year-old boy.

In addition, 729 protesters were hurt, including 156 hit by live fire, the ministry said, adding that five of the wounded were in serious condition. Some of the others were hurt by rubber-coated steel pellets or overcome by tear gas.

The military has said Palestinians have tried to damage the border fence with explosives, firebombs and other means. It has said snipers only target the “main instigators.”

Rights groups have branded open-fire orders as unlawful, saying they effectively permit soldiers to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.

Laub reported from Jericho, West Bank. Associated Press writer Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed reporting.
The Palestinian Authority says an Egyptian delegation presently visiting Gaza City has asked Hamas to call off the Great March of Return.