Israeli chief of staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot has warned the army has been given authorization to open fire ahead of mass protests on the Gaza border planned in 30 March.
Eisenkot said reinforcements, including special forces snipers, had been deployed to the border to counter what he said was the most serious risk of conflict since he took up his post in 2015.
Beginning 30 March, Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group that governs Gaza hopes it can mobilize large crowds to set up tent camps near the border.
“When we march to the border, the organizers will decide then what to do,” said Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official.
Warning Israel against targeting the protesters, he said “the occupation should not commit any stupidity in confronting the Palestinian crowds.”
Hamas says the demonstration is meant to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Gazans whose relatives fled or were expelled from their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.
Source: DS
