The Israeli army has positioned about 100 sharpshooters in the Gaza Strip, given the planned protest Palestinians are organizing, on the occasion of Yom Al-Ard, Earth Day, which is celebrated on 30 March.
The head of the IDF (Israeli defense), General Gadi Eizenkot, has announced that a "forbidden zone" for the Palestinians in the territory of the Gaza Strip, near the Israeli border, has been strengthened, for security reasons, and added that the army will not allow "infiltration of people" nor tolerate damage to the border during the protests. In this context, Eizenkot announced: "We have deployed more than 100 select shooters who have been called by all military units, first of all special forces. How "caveat" are allowed to open fire ".
The measure was adopted in view of the protests that Palestinians are organizing in the territory on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip and which will begin on Friday 30 March, on the occasion of Yom Al-Ard, the Day of the Earth, or the day in which Palestinians commemorate the killing of 6 Arab citizens of Israel by Israeli security forces, which took place on March 30, 1976, during demonstrations against the confiscation of Palestinian territories in northern Israel. During the protest, which will last six weeks, Palestinian families will live in tent cities planted in a border territory between the Gaza Strip and Israel, adjacent to the Israeli border, deemed a sensitive area by Israeli forces, where Palestinians could not have access. . The demonstration, whose objective would be the return of Palestinian refugees to the territories where Israel now exists, will end with a protest march, which will be held on Tuesday 15 May, on the occasion of Yawm Al-Nakba, the Day of the Nakba. , in which the Palestinian people commemorate the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the territory of Israel, which took place in 1948, the year of the creation of the State of Israel, whose independence is celebrated the day before, May 14. According to the organizers, the protest is supported by numerous Palestinian factions, with Hamas in the lead.
The demonstration, which Hamas has called the "return march", will begin on Friday 30 March, immediately after the afternoon prayer, when numerous vehicles will lead people, coming from all over the Gaza Strip, into five tent cities, which would be a few hundred meters from the border with Israel. The protest should remain peaceful for the duration of the event, which will end on May 15.