The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) told an Egyptian security delegation that it does not want to escalate with Israel on the borders of the Gaza Strip, while the occupation army on Friday shot the participants in the march of return, wounding a number of them.
During a meeting with the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza on Thursday night, Hamas and other factions confirmed that they did not want to escalate on the border of the Gaza Strip.
"We told the brothers in Egypt about the position of Hamas and the factions; we do not want escalation with the enemy, but at the same time ready to respond to any aggression," a source in the movement said.
It is noteworthy that the Egyptian delegation is headed by the Undersecretary of the General Intelligence General Ayman Badi, met with the head of the Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh.
Later, the Egyptian delegation left for Ramallah to meet Fatah officials.
In the same context, thousands of Palestinians arrived after the afternoon prayers to the tents of return on the eastern edge of the Gaza Strip near the border fence with Israel, in the framework of the march of popular return continued for the seventh month in a row.
A number of live bullets, rubber bullets and suffocation were reported by Israeli medics as demonstrators approached the border fence in the eastern Gaza Strip.
The High Commission for the Return of the Gaza Strip called for the broadest popular participation in today's protests under the slogan "Together ... Gaza is rising and the West is joining together."
This is the 30th Friday since the March 30 march, in which more than 200 Palestinians were martyred and 22,000 wounded.
The protests demand an end to the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since mid-2007, enabling refugees to return to their homes they were displaced 70 years ago.
A number of Friday sermons in Gaza called for "no recklessness" in today's demonstrations "so that there will be no casualties."
| The occupation reinforced its military presence on the border with Gaza in a sign of escalation (Anatolia) |
Military alert
The Israeli army has reinforced its forces along the border of the Gaza Strip and pushed tanks and tankers, along with the mobilization of border units with elite units and snipers, in preparation for the weekly returns.
The Security Council authorized the Israeli army to assess the level of response against what the Israeli government calls "acts of terrorism and riot on the security fence."
On Friday, political and military circles in Israel considered a decisive day to determine the situation in the Gaza Strip and the possibility of its deterioration into a comprehensive confrontation.
The meeting of the Security Council yesterday saw sharp differences on the way to deal with Gaza, between supporters and opponents of a large-scale operation. The Council kept the window on the possibility of success of Egyptian mediation efforts to reach a permanent calm.
The Israeli army reportedly deployed anti-missile missile batteries in recent weeks in anticipation of rocket attacks by the Palestinian resistance.
The Israel Airports and Ports Authority announced the change of takeoff and landing routes at Ben-Gurion International Airport in the light of the security tension to allow the air space of combat aircraft, and avoid hitting civilian aircraft with Iron Dome missiles if they start to intercept missiles towards Tel Aviv.