The Gaza leader of the Hamas terrorist group on Wednesday said that an upcoming mass protest on the Israeli border will be "decisive," vowing that he and other top officials were "ready to die" in a campaign to end Israel's blockade of the territory.
In a speech to an audience of hundreds of Gaza youths, Yahya Sinwar said Hamas has rejected international proposals to end weekly, often violent demonstrations, which are expected to culminate in Monday's mass prowwww.
"We can't stop these protests. We are supporting, even leading, them," Sinwar said. The protests will be "like a tiger running in all directions," he added.
The Hamas-led demonstrations are meant to protest a crippling decadelong Israeli-Egyptian blockade, imposed on the Gaza Strip after Hamas violently seized power there in 2007. The demonstrations are also an assertion of the Palestinian demands to return to lost properties in what is now Israel.
Monday's demonstration will cap six weeks of weekly protests and is scheduled to coincide with the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as well as the date when Palestinians mark the "catastrophe" (Nakba) of their displacement in 1948, when Israel won its independence.
In December, the U.S. sparked Palestinian outrage when President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and announced the embassy relocation. The Palestinians envision parts of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state and do not recognize it as Israel's capital.
Two-thirds of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the war that led to Israel's establishment.
Wednesday's audience included activists who have been leading the confrontations each Friday, burning tires along the fence, throwing stones at Israeli troops and flying incendiary kites over dry fields on the Israeli side of the border in the hope of causing brush fires. Some of the youths brandished wire cutters, a popular tool in weekly attempts to cut through the border fence.
Hamas has signaled it may encourage protesters to storm the border next week.
Sinwar said "regional and international" mediators have relayed proposals in an attempt to defuse the tensions. He did not identify the mediators or reveal the offers.
Going further, he said Hamas leaders "are ready to die along with tens of thousands" as the riots climax next week.
Since the protests began on March 30, at least 40 Palestinian rioters have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces and hundreds have been wounded. The mounting casualties sparked criticism from rights groups, the United Nations and the European Union alleging that Israel was using excessive force against unarmed protesters.
Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and will not allow any breach by the protesters. It accuses Hamas of exploiting civilians in an attempt to divert attention from the difficult conditions in Gaza and to cover up terror efforts.
Sinwar was freed in a prisoner swap with Israel in 2011 and was elected as the movement's Gaza chief in 2017.
Hamas has said if the protests "don't achieve their goals," they will continue.
