24,000 not 2

News in Brief by PN staff

Since Palestinians began their largely nonviolent Great March of Return protests at the Gaza-Israel border fence in March, Israeli security forces have shot dead over 180 Palestinians, and injured 24,000, said the World Health Organisation on 16 November. 5,800 demonstrators have been injured by live gunfire.

According to a survey by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem of 406 Palestinians injured by live fire, most were over 30 feet from the fence when they were shot.

On the other side, one Israeli soldier was ‘moderately injured’ by a grenade thrown over the fence by a Palestinian on 13 July, and one was shot dead at the Gaza border by a Palestinian sniper on 20 July.

That seems to be the sum total of Israeli injuries connected with the Great March of Return protests.

The health system in Gaza is at ‘breaking point’, UN human rights experts said in June, because of the illegal 11-year Israeli blockade.

Medicines and electricity are in short supply and few patients are allowed to transfer to the West Bank or to other countries for medical attention.

In early November, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, with participants from 10 national solidarity campaigns, met in Rivas, Spain, to begin planning its next mission to break the illegal blockade of Gaza.There will be an international week of action in October 2019.

A ceasefire between the Israeli government and Hamas, the Palestinian group ruling the Gaza Strip, was announced on 13 November after a major outbreak of violence including an Israeli raid into Gaza.

It’s reported that the ceasefire is intended to lead to a relaxation of the Israeli siege, reconstruction, and reunification of Gaza politically with the West Bank.

Hamas has long indicated its willingness to agree a long-term ceasefire with Israel (see PN 2506, 2552–2553)

Despite the most recent ceasefire, 14 Palestinians were injured by Israeli live fire at a Great March of Return demonstration on 23 November.