Middle East Peace Process: At least 65 Palestinians injured in eastern Gaza protests

World
Europe

02:27

Returning to the Middle East. At least 65 Palestinians have been injured in clashes between protesters and Israeli forces. This came on Wednesday during mass protests commemorating Palestinian Nakba Day in Gaza. CGTN's Noor Harazeen has more from Gaza.

A general strike was declared in the Gaza Strip, marking the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian catastrophe, Nakba Day. The strike, called for by the National Committee of the Great March of Return, saw business, government and educational institutions in the coastal enclave close their doors.

At the same time, thousands of Gaza residents turned out along the eastern Gaza-Israel border on Wednesday. The protesters burned tires and threw stones at soldiers, trying to scale the border fence, and practice what they see as their right of return to their homeland, now present-day Israel.

FAWZI BARHOUM HAMAS SPOKESMAN "The Palestinian people stand today in the face of occupation, aggression and the deal of the century. This march today is one of the tools of resistance the Palestinian people use in the face of the occupation and in order to put an end to this 12 year siege."

Israeli forces responded to the protests with live fire, rubber bullets and tear-gas bombs, sending reinforcements to the eastern Gaza-Israeli border.

Gaza's Health Ministry erected a medical unit at the entrance of Gaza's Al-Shefaa Hospital to deal with the increasing number of casualties expected to arrive throughout the day.

ATTAF WADI PROTESTER "I am originally from the occupied village of Beit Dares, and we the Palestinian people have the right to return to our lands, there is nothing that will prevent us. We are the only people in the world still under occupation, we have a land that we will return to through resistance because the Israelis do not know the language of peace."

Nakba, or catastrophe day, is aimed at re-focusing the world's attention on the 750,000 Palestinians displaced during the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the more than five million Palestinians who remain refugees, hoping to return to their lands in Israel. Noor Harazeen CGTN Gaza.