A Palestinian reportedly died from a head wound in Gaza Strip border clashes as Saturday marks the first anniversary of the beginning of weekly protests along the Israel-Gaza border, known as the “Great March of Return”.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militant group has threatened to unleash war against Israel if Palestinian civilians are killed during Saturday’s mass protests in Gaza to mark a year since the start of the “Great March of Return”.
The threat came after a spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, the PIJ’s militant wing, urged Palestinians to join the protests in a video posted on the group’s website.
“We caution the Zionist enemy against the spilling of Palestinian blood and emphasize that killing civilians will not bring it anything other than war”, Hamza warned.
He spoke amid reports that the organisers of the “Great March of Return” protests plan to mark the first anniversary of the event with large-scale rallies along the borders of the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
Iyad Sarhan, spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), in turn, warned Palestinians against approaching or breaching the security fence near the Gaza border.