By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hundreds of Palestinians converged along the Gaza-Israel security fence on Friday to take part in ongoing rallies against Israel’s decades-long occupation.

In a statement, Gaza’s National Authority for Breaking the Siege renewed its call to the people of Gaza to take part in the ongoing demonstrations.

The protests, the statement explained, “are intended to register our rejection of the [Israeli] occupation and its criminal policies, along with U.S. attempts to impose solutions that undermine the rights of our people”.

In a brief statement, Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanoua said the demonstrations would “go on without pause until the unjust blockade of the Gaza Strip is lifted”.

“Continued high attendance at these rallies reflects the unity of our people in the face of occupation and our rejection of the so-called ‘Deal of the Century’,” al-Qanoua added, referring to a backchannel Middle East peace plan currently being promoted by Washington.

Since the rallies first kicked off on Mar. 30, more than 130 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire.

Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.