Palestinians Cancel Action on Great March of Return

Gaza, MINA – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip cancel the commemoration of second year of the action of Great March of Return which is usually held every March 30. The action was canceled amid fears of the spread of a new type of coronavirus or Covid-19.

“We call on our people not to go to the Great March of Return on March 30, and stay at home to protect the safety of our people in the face of this deadly pandemic,” said a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group , Khaled al Batsh, thus quoted from Al Jazeera on Sunday.

Instead, Al Batsh asked Palestinians in Gaza to rise Palestinian flag on the roofs of their homes and burn the Israeli flag. Traffic will be stopped for one hour and sirens will be sounded throughout the region to mark the Great March of Return.

According to Gaza medical officials, 215 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli soldiers and another 8,000 suffered gunshot wounds during the Great March of Return warning last year.

In 2019, investigators from the UN Human Rights Council said Israeli forces had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. They have caused children and paramedics to become victims.

The Great March of Return was also referred to as the Palestinian Land Day to commemorate the events of March 30, 1976. At that time, Israeli police shot and killed six Palestinians when they demanded the return of their land occupied by Israel.

The Great March of Return was carried out as a form of protest over economic difficulties in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli blockade. As many as 80 percent of Gaza’s population are refugees or descendants of refugees who were displaced by war with Israel in 1948.

So far, there have been nine confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Gaza Strip. A number of hospitals in Gaza are preparing to face the challenge of accepting patients infected with the coronavirus. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)