29 jan 2019
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With April’s elections looming, Benjamin Netanyahu has good reason to fear Benny Gantz, his former army chief. Gantz has launched a new party, named Israeli Resilience, just as the net of corruption indictments is closing around the prime minister.
Already, at this early stage of campaigning, some 31 percent of the Israeli public prefer Gantz to head the next government over Netanyahu, who is only months away from becoming the longest-serving leader in Israel’s history. Gantz is being feted as the new hope, a chance to change direction after a series of governments under Netanyahu’s leadership have over the past decade shifted Israel ever further to the right. |
Like Israel’s former politician generals, from Yitzhak Rabin to Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, Gantz is being portrayed – and portraying himself – as a battle-hardened warrior, able to make peace from a position of strength.
Before he had issued a single policy statement, polls showed him winning 15 of the 120 parliamentary seats, a welcome sign for those hoping that a centre-left coalition can triumph this time.
But the reality of what Gantz stands for – revealed this week in his first election videos – is far from reassuring.
In 2014, he led Israel into its longest and most savage military operation in living memory: 50 days in which the tiny coastal enclave of Gaza was bombarded relentlessly.
By the end, one of the most densely populated areas on earth – its two million inhabitants already trapped by a lengthy Israeli blockade – lay in ruins.
More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the onslaught, a quarter of them children, while tens of thousands were left homeless.
The world watched, appalled. Investigations by human rights groups such as Amnesty International concluded that Israel had committed war crimes.
One might have assumed that during the election campaign Gantz would wish to draw a veil over this troubling period in his military career. Not a bit of it.
One of his campaign videos soars over the rubble of Gaza, proudly declaring that Gantz was responsible for destroying many thousands of buildings. “Parts of Gaza have been returned to the Stone Age,” the video boasts.
This is a reference to the Dahiya doctrine, a strategy devised by the Israeli military command of which Gantz was a core member. The aim is to lay waste to the modern infrastructure of Israel’s neighbours, forcing survivors to eke out a bare existence rather than resist Israel.
The collective punishment inherent in the apocalyptic Dahiya doctrine is an undoubted war crime.
More particularly, the video exults in the destruction of Rafah, a city in Gaza that suffered the most intense bout of bombing after an Israeli soldier was seized by Hamas. In minutes, Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment killed at least 135 Palestinian civilians and wrecked a hospital.
According to investigations, Israel had invoked the Hannibal Procedure, the code name for an order allowing the army to use any means to stop one of its soldiers being taken. That includes killing civilians as “collateral damage” and, more controversially for Israelis, the soldier himself.
Gantz’s video flashes up a grand total of “1,364 terrorists killed”, in return for “three-and-a-half years of quiet”. As Israel’s liberal Haaretz daily observed, the video “celebrates a body count as if this were just some computer game”.
But the casualty figure cited by Gantz exceeds even the Israel army’s self-serving assessment – as well, of course, as dehumanising those “terrorists” fighting for their freedom.
A more impartial observer, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, estimates that the Palestinian fighters killed by Israel amounted to 765. By their reckoning, and that of other bodies such as the United Nations, almost two-thirds of Gazans killed in Israel’s 2014 operation were civilians.
Further, the “quiet” Gantz credits himself with was enjoyed chiefly by Israel.
In Gaza, Palestinians faced regular military attacks, a continuing siege choking off essential supplies and destroying their export industries, and a policy of executions by Israeli snipers firing on unarmed demonstrators at the perimeter fence imprisoning the enclave.
Gantz’s campaign slogans “Only the Strong Wins” and “Israel Before Everything” are telling. Everything, for Gantz, clearly includes human rights.
It is shameful enough that he believes his track record of war crimes will win over voters. But the same approach has been voiced by Israel’s new military chief of staff.
Aviv Kochavi, nicknamed the Philosopher Officer for his university studies, was inaugurated this month as the army’s latest head. In a major speech, he promised to reinvent the fabled “most moral army in the world” into a “deadly, efficient” one.
In Kochavi’s view, the rampaging military once overseen by Gantz needs to step up its game. And he is a proven expert in destruction.
In the early stages of the Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000, the Israeli army struggled to find a way to crush Palestinian fighters concealed in densely crowded cities under occupation.
Kochavi came up with an ingenious solution in Nablus, where he was brigade commander. The army would invade a Palestinian home, then smash through its walls, moving from house to house, burrowing through the city unseen. Palestinian space was not only usurped, but destroyed inside-out.
Gantz, the former general hoping to lead the government, and Kochavi, the general leading its army, are symptoms of just how complete the militaristic logic that has overtaken Israel really is. An Israel determined to become a modern-day Sparta.
Should he bring about Netanyahu’s downfall, Gantz, like his predecessor politician-generals, will turn out to be a hollow peace-maker. He was trained to understand only strength, zero-sum strategies, conquest and destruction, not compassion or compromise.
More dangerously, Gantz’s glorification of his military past is likely to reinforce in Israelis’ minds the need not for peace but for more of the same: support for an ultranationalist right that bathes itself in an ethnic supremacist philosophy and dismisses any recognition of the Palestinians as human beings with rights.
Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His new website is jonathan-cook.net.
Other posts by Jonathan Cook.
Related: 10 dec 2018 Senior Israeli Lawmaker: “The Israeli army has enough bullets for every Palestinian.”
19 oct 2018 Ex-Israel PM: We killed 300 Palestinians in 3 minutes
Before he had issued a single policy statement, polls showed him winning 15 of the 120 parliamentary seats, a welcome sign for those hoping that a centre-left coalition can triumph this time.
But the reality of what Gantz stands for – revealed this week in his first election videos – is far from reassuring.
In 2014, he led Israel into its longest and most savage military operation in living memory: 50 days in which the tiny coastal enclave of Gaza was bombarded relentlessly.
By the end, one of the most densely populated areas on earth – its two million inhabitants already trapped by a lengthy Israeli blockade – lay in ruins.
More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the onslaught, a quarter of them children, while tens of thousands were left homeless.
The world watched, appalled. Investigations by human rights groups such as Amnesty International concluded that Israel had committed war crimes.
One might have assumed that during the election campaign Gantz would wish to draw a veil over this troubling period in his military career. Not a bit of it.
One of his campaign videos soars over the rubble of Gaza, proudly declaring that Gantz was responsible for destroying many thousands of buildings. “Parts of Gaza have been returned to the Stone Age,” the video boasts.
This is a reference to the Dahiya doctrine, a strategy devised by the Israeli military command of which Gantz was a core member. The aim is to lay waste to the modern infrastructure of Israel’s neighbours, forcing survivors to eke out a bare existence rather than resist Israel.
The collective punishment inherent in the apocalyptic Dahiya doctrine is an undoubted war crime.
More particularly, the video exults in the destruction of Rafah, a city in Gaza that suffered the most intense bout of bombing after an Israeli soldier was seized by Hamas. In minutes, Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment killed at least 135 Palestinian civilians and wrecked a hospital.
According to investigations, Israel had invoked the Hannibal Procedure, the code name for an order allowing the army to use any means to stop one of its soldiers being taken. That includes killing civilians as “collateral damage” and, more controversially for Israelis, the soldier himself.
Gantz’s video flashes up a grand total of “1,364 terrorists killed”, in return for “three-and-a-half years of quiet”. As Israel’s liberal Haaretz daily observed, the video “celebrates a body count as if this were just some computer game”.
But the casualty figure cited by Gantz exceeds even the Israel army’s self-serving assessment – as well, of course, as dehumanising those “terrorists” fighting for their freedom.
A more impartial observer, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, estimates that the Palestinian fighters killed by Israel amounted to 765. By their reckoning, and that of other bodies such as the United Nations, almost two-thirds of Gazans killed in Israel’s 2014 operation were civilians.
Further, the “quiet” Gantz credits himself with was enjoyed chiefly by Israel.
In Gaza, Palestinians faced regular military attacks, a continuing siege choking off essential supplies and destroying their export industries, and a policy of executions by Israeli snipers firing on unarmed demonstrators at the perimeter fence imprisoning the enclave.
Gantz’s campaign slogans “Only the Strong Wins” and “Israel Before Everything” are telling. Everything, for Gantz, clearly includes human rights.
It is shameful enough that he believes his track record of war crimes will win over voters. But the same approach has been voiced by Israel’s new military chief of staff.
Aviv Kochavi, nicknamed the Philosopher Officer for his university studies, was inaugurated this month as the army’s latest head. In a major speech, he promised to reinvent the fabled “most moral army in the world” into a “deadly, efficient” one.
In Kochavi’s view, the rampaging military once overseen by Gantz needs to step up its game. And he is a proven expert in destruction.
In the early stages of the Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000, the Israeli army struggled to find a way to crush Palestinian fighters concealed in densely crowded cities under occupation.
Kochavi came up with an ingenious solution in Nablus, where he was brigade commander. The army would invade a Palestinian home, then smash through its walls, moving from house to house, burrowing through the city unseen. Palestinian space was not only usurped, but destroyed inside-out.
Gantz, the former general hoping to lead the government, and Kochavi, the general leading its army, are symptoms of just how complete the militaristic logic that has overtaken Israel really is. An Israel determined to become a modern-day Sparta.
Should he bring about Netanyahu’s downfall, Gantz, like his predecessor politician-generals, will turn out to be a hollow peace-maker. He was trained to understand only strength, zero-sum strategies, conquest and destruction, not compassion or compromise.
More dangerously, Gantz’s glorification of his military past is likely to reinforce in Israelis’ minds the need not for peace but for more of the same: support for an ultranationalist right that bathes itself in an ethnic supremacist philosophy and dismisses any recognition of the Palestinians as human beings with rights.
Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His new website is jonathan-cook.net.
Other posts by Jonathan Cook.
Related: 10 dec 2018 Senior Israeli Lawmaker: “The Israeli army has enough bullets for every Palestinian.”
19 oct 2018 Ex-Israel PM: We killed 300 Palestinians in 3 minutes
At least 18 Palestinians were shot and injured Tuesday evening by Israeli forces' gunfire as they suppressed the weekly naval march in the northern besieged Gaza Strip.
Medical sources said that Israeli forces opened live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear-gas bombs to suppress protesters and boats attempting to break the siege.
Eight protesters suffered gunshot injuries while the others were hit with teargas bombs, the sources added.
Hundreds of Palestinian protesters gathered on Tuesday afternoon at the northern borders of the Gaza Strip to take part in protests in an attempt to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than 12 years.
Medical sources said that Israeli forces opened live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear-gas bombs to suppress protesters and boats attempting to break the siege.
Eight protesters suffered gunshot injuries while the others were hit with teargas bombs, the sources added.
Hundreds of Palestinian protesters gathered on Tuesday afternoon at the northern borders of the Gaza Strip to take part in protests in an attempt to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than 12 years.
Samir Ghazi Nabahin 47
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip has confirmed that a Palestinian man died, Tuesday, from serious wounds he suffered, last Friday, after Israeli soldiers shot him during the Great Return March Procession.
The Health Ministry stated that the man, Samir Ghazi Nabahin, 47, was shot with a high-velocity gas bomb in the face, east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza.
It added that Nabahin was rushed to the Shifa Medical Center in Gaza, and received the urgently needed medical treatment, but remained in a critical condition until he succumbed to his wounds.
Also on Tuesday, the soldiers shot at least fourteen Palestinians with live fire, and caused eleven others to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, during the nonviolent naval procession near the shore of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.
The Health Ministry stated that one of the wounded Palestinians suffered a serious injury prior to the procession, while driving a bulldozer at the shore area in Beit Lahia.
The army and the navy fired many live rounds, in addition to gas bombs and concussion grenades at the boats, and the shore.
Furthermore, the soldiers shot a farmer while working on his land, in Beit Lahia, causing a moderate injury, before he was rushed to the Indonesia Hospital.
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip has confirmed that a Palestinian man died, Tuesday, from serious wounds he suffered, last Friday, after Israeli soldiers shot him during the Great Return March Procession.
The Health Ministry stated that the man, Samir Ghazi Nabahin, 47, was shot with a high-velocity gas bomb in the face, east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza.
It added that Nabahin was rushed to the Shifa Medical Center in Gaza, and received the urgently needed medical treatment, but remained in a critical condition until he succumbed to his wounds.
Also on Tuesday, the soldiers shot at least fourteen Palestinians with live fire, and caused eleven others to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, during the nonviolent naval procession near the shore of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.
The Health Ministry stated that one of the wounded Palestinians suffered a serious injury prior to the procession, while driving a bulldozer at the shore area in Beit Lahia.
The army and the navy fired many live rounds, in addition to gas bombs and concussion grenades at the boats, and the shore.
Furthermore, the soldiers shot a farmer while working on his land, in Beit Lahia, causing a moderate injury, before he was rushed to the Indonesia Hospital.
One Palestinian was shot and injured by Israeli forces' live fire, late Monday, in eastern Khan Younis in the southern besieged Gaza Strip.
Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli soldiers opened fire towards a Palestinian youth who was walking near the Israeli border fence in eastern Abasan al-Jadida.
The youth was injured and transferred to a hospital for treatment.
Israeli forces regularly detain Palestinians attempting to cross into Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip, which has suffered under a nearly 12-year-long military blockade by Israel.
Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli soldiers opened fire towards a Palestinian youth who was walking near the Israeli border fence in eastern Abasan al-Jadida.
The youth was injured and transferred to a hospital for treatment.
Israeli forces regularly detain Palestinians attempting to cross into Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip, which has suffered under a nearly 12-year-long military blockade by Israel.
28 jan 2019
On Monday, Israeli soldiers, stationed across the perimeter fence in the eastern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip, shot and injured one teacher, and opened fire on several Palestinian farmers and shepherds.
Media sources in Gaza said a schoolteacher was injured after the soldiers, in their military bases close to the fence, fired many rounds of live ammunition at a high school, east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
They added that the soldiers also fired many live rounds at farmers and shepherds in Malka area, east of Gaza city, and farmlands east of Deir al-Balah, in the central part of the coastal region.
In the occupied West Bank, the soldiers confiscated a tractor, owned by a local farmer identified as Ahmad Thiab Abu Kheizaran, in the ar-Ras al-Ahmar Bedouin community, southeast of Tubas, allegedly for “working in a military zone.”
IOF shoots at school in Gaza, injuring employee
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Monday opened fire on a school in the blockaded Gaza strip, injuring a Palestinian, according to local sources.
"The Mahdia Shawa School today came under fire which wounded employee Ramez Za'anin", the Ministry of Education in Gaza said.
Ministry official Ziad Thabet condemned the shooting, which, he said, was part of an ongoing Israeli policy to target Palestinian educational institutions.
The attack came in flagrant violation to international las and norms, he added.
He also called on international community to condemn the incident and to hold Israel accountable for its escalated crimes against the Gaza Strip.
Israel has stepped up attacks in Gaza, which claimed over 295 Palestinian lives in 2018, marking the highest death toll since the 2014 Gaza conflict, many of them were shot during the March of Return protests, amid a deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave.
Media sources in Gaza said a schoolteacher was injured after the soldiers, in their military bases close to the fence, fired many rounds of live ammunition at a high school, east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
They added that the soldiers also fired many live rounds at farmers and shepherds in Malka area, east of Gaza city, and farmlands east of Deir al-Balah, in the central part of the coastal region.
In the occupied West Bank, the soldiers confiscated a tractor, owned by a local farmer identified as Ahmad Thiab Abu Kheizaran, in the ar-Ras al-Ahmar Bedouin community, southeast of Tubas, allegedly for “working in a military zone.”
IOF shoots at school in Gaza, injuring employee
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Monday opened fire on a school in the blockaded Gaza strip, injuring a Palestinian, according to local sources.
"The Mahdia Shawa School today came under fire which wounded employee Ramez Za'anin", the Ministry of Education in Gaza said.
Ministry official Ziad Thabet condemned the shooting, which, he said, was part of an ongoing Israeli policy to target Palestinian educational institutions.
The attack came in flagrant violation to international las and norms, he added.
He also called on international community to condemn the incident and to hold Israel accountable for its escalated crimes against the Gaza Strip.
Israel has stepped up attacks in Gaza, which claimed over 295 Palestinian lives in 2018, marking the highest death toll since the 2014 Gaza conflict, many of them were shot during the March of Return protests, amid a deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave.
27 jan 2019
Israeli soldiers shot, on Sunday evening, a young Palestinian man, east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza.
Medical sources said the soldiers shot the young man, 25 years of age, with a live round in his abdomen, before he was rushed to a hospital.
The Palestinian was instantly moved to surgery in the Al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.
He was shot when Israeli soldiers, stationed across the perimeter fence, fired many live rounds at Palestinians on their lands in that area.
Medical sources said the soldiers shot the young man, 25 years of age, with a live round in his abdomen, before he was rushed to a hospital.
The Palestinian was instantly moved to surgery in the Al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.
He was shot when Israeli soldiers, stationed across the perimeter fence, fired many live rounds at Palestinians on their lands in that area.
Heavy spates of bullet fire were randomly unleashed on Sunday morning by the Israeli occupation army toward Palestinian lands east of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Eye-witnesses said Israeli military vehicles stationed along Gaza’s border area discharged bullet fire targeting Palestinian lands east of Gaza.
The Israeli military routinely attacks Palestinian lands and farmers near the Gaza border, sparking terror among civilians.
Nearly two million Palestinians have been stranded in the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel from air, land and sea since 2007, turning the strip into the world’s largest “open air prison.”
Eye-witnesses said Israeli military vehicles stationed along Gaza’s border area discharged bullet fire targeting Palestinian lands east of Gaza.
The Israeli military routinely attacks Palestinian lands and farmers near the Gaza border, sparking terror among civilians.
Nearly two million Palestinians have been stranded in the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel from air, land and sea since 2007, turning the strip into the world’s largest “open air prison.”
26 jan 2019
Israeli soldiers injured, on Saturday evening, a Palestinian child, and caused many others to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza.
Media sources said the soldiers, stationed near a gate of the perimeter fence, east of the refugee camp, fired a barrage of gas bombs at a group of children and young men, on Palestinian lands in the area, allegedly for “approaching the fence.”
They added that the child, only 13 years of age, was shot with a high-velocity gas bomb in his leg, while several others suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.
Media sources said the soldiers, stationed near a gate of the perimeter fence, east of the refugee camp, fired a barrage of gas bombs at a group of children and young men, on Palestinian lands in the area, allegedly for “approaching the fence.”
They added that the child, only 13 years of age, was shot with a high-velocity gas bomb in his leg, while several others suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday morning opened fire at some Palestinian farmers and their cultivated plots of land in the east of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Local sources reported that Israeli soldiers opened machinegun fire at farmers as they were working their lands east of Gaza City, Khan Younis and Central Gaza.
Luckily, no one was hurt in the shooting attacks.
With no regard for international law or any ceasefire deal in Gaza, the Israeli army keeps attacking—sometimes injuring and killing—civilians, farmers and fishermen almost on a daily basis.
Local sources reported that Israeli soldiers opened machinegun fire at farmers as they were working their lands east of Gaza City, Khan Younis and Central Gaza.
Luckily, no one was hurt in the shooting attacks.
With no regard for international law or any ceasefire deal in Gaza, the Israeli army keeps attacking—sometimes injuring and killing—civilians, farmers and fishermen almost on a daily basis.
25 jan 2019
Ayman Hamed, 17
Ehab Abed 25
Two Palestinians were killed and dozens injured on Friday when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) quelled peaceful protests in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank said that Ayman Hamed, 17, was shot in the chest during Ramallah protests.
Local sources said that the IOF has detained Hamed's body since he was pronounced dead at a Ramallah hospital.
Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, a 25-year-old young man identified as Ehab Abed was killed, while 22 Palestinians, including 14 children, were injured during the Great March of Return.
Gaza Ministry of Health said that six paramedics were injured when the IOF opened fire at a Palestinian ambulance on Gaza border.
Thousands of Palestinians marched along the border between the Gaza Strip and Palestinian territories occupied since 1948 on the 44th Friday of the Great March of Return.
The Great March of Return was launched on 30 March to demand the Palestinian refugees' right to return and pressure Israel to break the 13-year-long blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli occupation army has killed 261 protesters and injured about 27,000 others, 500 of whom are in critical condition.
Ehab Abed 25
Two Palestinians were killed and dozens injured on Friday when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) quelled peaceful protests in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank said that Ayman Hamed, 17, was shot in the chest during Ramallah protests.
Local sources said that the IOF has detained Hamed's body since he was pronounced dead at a Ramallah hospital.
Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, a 25-year-old young man identified as Ehab Abed was killed, while 22 Palestinians, including 14 children, were injured during the Great March of Return.
Gaza Ministry of Health said that six paramedics were injured when the IOF opened fire at a Palestinian ambulance on Gaza border.
Thousands of Palestinians marched along the border between the Gaza Strip and Palestinian territories occupied since 1948 on the 44th Friday of the Great March of Return.
The Great March of Return was launched on 30 March to demand the Palestinian refugees' right to return and pressure Israel to break the 13-year-long blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli occupation army has killed 261 protesters and injured about 27,000 others, 500 of whom are in critical condition.
At least 14 Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli forces at the eastern borders of the besieged Gaza Strip, on Friday, including a paramedic and a journalist.
Palestinian crowds gathered alongside the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip to take part in the weekly march to break the ongoing Israeli siege.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that a Palestinian teenage girl was shot and injured in the leg by Israeli forces alongside the eastern borders of Gaza City.
Israeli forces were deployed across the borders of the Gaza Strip to suppress the weekly "Great March of Return" protests.
The ministry confirmed that one paramedic was injured in eastern Gaza City, and one journalist was injured in eastern al-Breij in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces fired tear-gas bombs at a medical station in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
"The Great March of Return" protests were launched on March 30th by thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza -- which has suffered from a decade-long Israeli siege -- who took to the borders to demand their right of return as refugees to their original homelands, now in present-day Israel.
Palestinian crowds gathered alongside the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip to take part in the weekly march to break the ongoing Israeli siege.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that a Palestinian teenage girl was shot and injured in the leg by Israeli forces alongside the eastern borders of Gaza City.
Israeli forces were deployed across the borders of the Gaza Strip to suppress the weekly "Great March of Return" protests.
The ministry confirmed that one paramedic was injured in eastern Gaza City, and one journalist was injured in eastern al-Breij in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces fired tear-gas bombs at a medical station in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
"The Great March of Return" protests were launched on March 30th by thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza -- which has suffered from a decade-long Israeli siege -- who took to the borders to demand their right of return as refugees to their original homelands, now in present-day Israel.
Truce violations List of names Pictures of martyrs
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July: 31 - 30 - 29 - 28 - 27 - 26 - 25 - 24 - 23 - 22 - 21 - 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 8
