Palestinian, 21, wounded during clashes along Gaza border dies from injuries
A Palestinian wounded by Israeli fire during protests and clashes along the Gaza border in February has died from his injuries, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said on Monday.
Fadi Osama Hijazi, 21, was wounded during clashes east of Jabalia in the north of Gaza, the Health Ministry said.
Palestinians have been gathering for weekly demonstrations at various points along the border of the blockaded territory since March 2018.
At least 311 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the protests began, the majority during the demonstrations and clashes.
Israeli excesses continued as Palestinian Pesident Mahmoud Abbas said he would discuss plans for new parliamentary elections with all factions, including Hamas. Meeting with senior Palestinian leaders in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Abbas renewed a pledge to hold the polls — the first since 2006 — but without giving a time frame. He announced they had formed committees to “communicate with the election commission and factions such as Hamas and all factions, as well as with the Israeli authorities.”
He said any elections should take place in “the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.” Hamas and Fatah have been at loggerheads since 2007, when Hamas seized Gaza and threw out Abbas’ forces, which retained control of the internationally recognized Palestinian government based in the West Bank. No parliamentary elections have been held since 2006, with the two sides trading blame.
Multiple attempts
at reconciliation have failed and analysts say new elections are impossible without improved relations.
Hamas said in a statement on Saturday it did not “know what Abu Mazen means by general election.”
The movement said it had already committed itself to elections. Abbas has previously pledged on multiple occasions to hold elections but without any results. Meanwhile, Abbas also confirmed the Palestinian Authority (PA) had received on Sunday $1.5 billion shekels ($430 million) from Israel — representing taxes that had been withheld from the Jewish state.
Israel in February decided to withhold around $10 million per month from revenues of some $190 million per month it collects on the behalf of the PA, triggering Abbas’s fury. The money comes from customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports and constitutes more than 50 percent of the PA’s revenues.