Palestinians demonstrated high unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip
Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated high unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, which has been reeling under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.
Protesters called on local authorities and the Ramallah-based Ministry of Labor to intervene to create jobs for jobless Palestinians in the seaside enclave.
"Today, poor families in Gaza are coming out to raise their voices in the face of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the international community," Talal Abu Zarifa, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which organized the rally, told Anadolu Agency.
“We tell the PA that you have to correct your policy and put an end to the division that has turned the Gaza Strip into a disaster zone in conjunction with the [Israeli] blockade."
Abu Zarifa went on to decry the “continued silence of the international community” towards the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Last month, the World Bank warned that the Gaza economy was in “free fall”, calling on Israel and the international community to take immediate actions to avoid “immediate collapse” in the Palestinian territory.
According to the bank, the unemployment is now over 50 percent – and over 70 percent among Gaza's youth.
Israel has imposed a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip after Palestinian group Hamas seized control of the strip from rival Fatah group.
In October, Hamas and Fatah -- Palestine’s two main political factions -- signed a landmark reconciliation agreement in Cairo aimed at ending their bitter division. However, the reconciliation agreement has failed to bear fruit due to ongoing differences between the two factions.
Hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday paid farewell to three people martyred by Israeli army fire during anti-occupation protests near border of the Gaza Strip a day earlier.Palestinians in eastern Gaza’s al-Shojaeya neighborhood took part in the funeral of 12-year-old Faris al-Sirsawi, who was killed by Israeli forces stationed near a security fence in eastern Gaza.Mourners also laid to rest the bodies of Mahmoud Abu Samaan, 24, and Hussein al-Raqib, 28, in central and southern Gaza.Video: Gaza bids farewell to 24-year-old martyrFriday’s deaths brought to 198 Palestinians martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire near Gaza border in anti-occupation protests since March.Demonstrators demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.They also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.Israeli navy arrests two fishermen off Gaza coastThree Palestinians martyred along Gaza-Israel buffer zone
Gazans bury three martyrs killed by Israel
Israeli naval forces on Saturday arrested two Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip.The two fishermen were apprehended while fishing two nautical miles from the shore of al-Sudaniyya district in the northern Gaza Strip, the local Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) said.There was no comment from the Israeli military on the report.According to Palestinian estimates, roughly 50,000 Gazans earn their living from fishing.After Israel's devastating military onslaught against Hamas-run Gaza in mid-2014, in which some 2,150 Palestinians were killed, Israel began allowing Palestinian fishermen to fish up to six nautical miles off the Gaza coast, as opposed to three nautical miles previously.Last May, Israeli authorities increased the fishing area for Gazan fishermen to nine nautical miles.Palestinian officials accuse Israeli forces of opening fire on fishermen off Gaza coast on claims of violating the set fishing zone.Video: Three Palestinians martyred along Gaza-Israel buffer zone
Israeli navy arrests two fishermen off Gaza coast
At least three Palestinians were killed Friday by Israeli army gunfire -- and another 126 injured -- amid ongoing demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.In a statement, Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for Gaza’s Health Ministry, said that one of the three martyrs was a minor.According to al-Qidra, “dozens” of Palestinian protesters were affected by teargas while 126 others, including 10 women and 30 children, sustained gunshot injuries.Israel takes aim at UNRWA’s presence in E. Jerusalem: MediaIsrael to send reinforcements to Gaza buffer zoneSeven of the injured persons were in serious condition, he added.Demonstrators demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.They also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.According to the Health Ministry, more than 190 Palestinians have been martyred -- and 20,000 others injured -- since the rallies first began on March 30.Video: Three Palestinians martyred along Gaza-Israel buffer zone
Three Palestinians martyred along Gaza-Israel buffer zone