GAZA: Palestinians on Tuesday mark 70 years since the Nakba, or catastrophe, the day on which the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, as Gaza is reeling from Monday’s violence in which Israeli forces killed at least 58 protesters.
Tuesday’s commemorations highlight the campaign that led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their villages.
Throughout the last seven weeks, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been protesting as part of a weeks-long movement calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.
Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 107 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded about 12,000 people.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called on residents across the occupied West Bank to hold a general strike on Tuesday in honor of those killed in the Gaza Strip.
Schools, universities, banks, private and public businesses, will be closed as part of the strike, which comes as Palestinians commemorate 70 years since the Nakba.
Laila Anwar al-Ghandour, an eight-month-old baby, died of tear gas inhalation at dawn on Tuesday, according to Gaza’s ministry of health.
Al-Ghandour is either the 58th or 59th fatality since Monday’s protest began.
At least 58 Palestinians were killed on Monday in Gaza and more than 2,700 others wounded as the Israeli army fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at protesters assembled along several points near the fence with Israel.
The demonstrations coincided with protests against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
