Gaza protests against Israel suspended for 3 months

Weekly Hamas-backed demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel border will be suspended for three months, protest organisers in the Palestinian enclave said yesterday. Today’s protests would be the last until March 30, 2020, Talal abu Zarifa, a member of the organising committee for the ‘March of Return’, told AFP. The weekly protests began in March 2018, calling for an end to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and for Palestinians to be allowed to return to their ancestral homes inside the Jewish state. When they resume, the demonstrations will be monthly, rather than weekly, Zarifa said. He did not give a specific reason for the decision, but the number of attendees has dwindled in recent months. At least 348 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire since the marches began, the majority during the demonstrations, according to an AFP toll.