BICOM

Thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank yesterday to mark “Prisoners Day”.

The Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, said that “on this day we honour our brave prisoners who spent the most difficult hours, days and years in the interrogation rooms and prisons for our people and their will to prevail over the tyranny of the occupier”.

Last night, Israel Defence Forces soldiers identified and fired at five suspects, at least one of which was armed, approaching the security fence in Gaza.

Palestinians in Gaza also released a kite over the border armed with explosives. The kite landed in Israel and set fire to a wheat field in the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council. According to Ynet, “The kite method may have been selected because the terrorists operating them feel relatively safe doing so, based on the assumption the IDF will not target them aerially. They are, however, operating the kites from behind fortified positions out of fear of being hit by snipers on the ground.”

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai announced sanctions on 14 Gaza bus companies in response to their involvement transporting protestors to the “tent-cities” on the Gaza border. Mordechai said: “As we have warned, sanctions will be levied on company owners, and neither they nor their families will receive privileges. Every link of theirs to Israel will be cut off.” A Hamas delegation led by deputy leader Saleh Al-Arouri arrived in Cairo to discuss the ongoing protests as well as to revisit the possibility of implementing Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.