A top official from the Palestinian government announced that demonstrations would be banned during the upcoming three-day Muslim holiday, Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
“As a result of the current conditions, in order to make the daily life of our citizens easier and to ensure that the normalcy of day-to-day life is not ruined during the Eid period, demonstrations will not be permitted,” adviser to the Palestinian presidency Ismail Jaber stated in a public notice.
Palestinians have held peaceful demonstrations dubbed the Great March of Return on the Gaza Strip since March 30. The Israeli army uses live ammunition against the Palestinians who demand "returning to the lands they were exiled from and an end to the illegitimate blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza since 2006."
Since March, more than 127 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured by Israeli gunfire in anti-occupation protests in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had announced on March 19 that he would make legal and financial decisions regarding Gaza. Jaber said that once Eid comes to an end, efforts regarding these matters would continue.
Last year, Abbas took a number of punitive measures as a way of piling pressure on Hamas to relinquish its control of the Gaza Strip. Civil servants in Gaza have been unable to receive payment since the past month.
The measures included cutting the salaries of Gaza-based employees by 30 percent, reducing the provision of electricity to the territory, and the forced retirement of around 6,000 employees.
