World

Gazans rally near Israel border in blockade-busting campaign

11 of May 2018

Yehiyeh Sinwar, the Hamas militant group's leader in the Gaza Strip, speaks to foreign correspondents, in his office in Gaza City, Thursday, May 10, 2018. Sinwar said Thursday that protesters in a mass demonstration along the Israeli border next week will be unarmed and peaceful, but also compared them to a "starving tiger" and held out the possibility that tens of thousands of people could burst through the fence and swarm into Israel. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra),Yehiyeh Sinwar, the Hamas militant group's leader in the Gaza Strip, speaks to foreign correspondents, in his office in Gaza City, Thursday, May 10, 2018. Sinwar said Thursday that protesters in a mass demonstration along the Israeli border next week will be unarmed and peaceful, but also compared them to a "starving tiger" and held out the possibility that tens of thousands of people could burst through the fence and swarm into Israel. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Hundreds of Gaza residents are gathering near the border with Israel for a seventh weekly protest aimed at lifting a decade-old blockade of their territory. Friday's protest comes just three days ahead of what the Hamas leader of Gaza says will be a march by tens of thousands who could burst through the border fence into Israel.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds of Gaza residents are gathering near the border with Israel for a seventh weekly protest aimed at shaking off a decade-old blockade of their territory.

Friday’s protest comes just three days ahead of what the Hamas leader of Gaza says will be a march by tens of thousands who could burst through the border fence into Israel. Yehiyeh Sinwar has said Monday’s crowd will be unarmed and peaceful, but also compared it to a “starving tiger.”

The Hamas-led demonstrations, fueled by despair in Gaza, are part of a campaign to break the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007.

Israel says it will prevent any border breach. Forty protesters were killed and more than 1,700 wounded by Israeli troops since late March.