In a statement in commemoration of the 18th anniversary of outset of Intifada (uprising) across Palestine, Hamas said it will keep supporting the resistance movement and the revolutionary masses.
Describing armed resistance to Israeli crimes as a “strategic option”, the movement said it fully endorses the Great March of Return protests and called on President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas to abandon security coordination with the occupiers of al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Hamas once again voiced strong opposition to the so-called deal of the century, saying such plans are aimed at eliminating Palestine and violating the national rights of Palestinians.
The Great March of Return, organized by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, started on March 30, the commemoration of Land Day, which marks the events of March 30, 1976, when Israeli police shot and killed six Palestinian citizens as they protested against the Zionist regime’s expropriation of land.
The Great March of Return protests call for recognition of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, a right enshrined in international law, and the end of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt for over a decade, which has caused suffering to the Palestinians living there.
According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 194 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since March 30.
Of them, 141 were killed during demonstrations, including 28 children, one woman, two journalists, three paramedics and three differently abled people.