For the fourth consecutive Friday, hundreds of Palestinians converged on the Gaza Strip's eastern border to take part in ongoing rallies against Israel's decades-long occupation.
Dubbed the "Friday of Martyrs and Prisoners", demonstrators raised images of Palestinians who were recently killed while taking part in the rallies.
At least 35 Palestinians have been martyred -- and hundreds more injured -- by cross-border Israeli army gunfire since the border rallies began on Mar. 30.
In commemoration of Palestinian Prisoners Day, which was on Tuesday, protest organizers also hung banners bearing the images of long-term Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
According to Palestinian figures, roughly 6,500 Palestinians are currently held by the Israeli authorities, including 62 women and scores of children.
The border rallies are part of a six-week-long demonstration that will culminate on May 15. That day will mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment -- an event Palestinians refer to as "The Catastrophe".
Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees be granted the "right of return" to their towns and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
- Warning
On Thursday evening, the Israeli authorities reportedly warned Gaza residents against approaching the fraught border.
Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israeli army planes had dropped flyers over the Gaza Strip warning would-be protesters to refrain from approaching -- or attempting to damage -- the border fence.
"You are strongly advised not to participate in acts of violence against Israeli army troops or Israeli citizens," the flyers read, according to the newspaper.
The flyers went on to warn that Israeli forces would "use any means necessary" to preempt perceived "acts of violence" by Palestinian protesters. -
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