GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hundreds of Palestinian women demonstrated in Gaza City on Wednesday against the so-called “Deal of the Century”, a backchannel U.S. Middle East peace plan.

Demonstrators also demanded reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah and condemned Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land.

“We came today to emphasize the role of women in the Palestinian national cause,” Iktimal Hamad, a member of the General Union of Palestinian Women, told Anadolu Agency at the demonstration, which was held two days before International Women’s Day.

“We’re also calling for the unification of Palestinian ranks because our only fight should be with Israel’s occupation,” she said.

Hamad also stressed the need to oppose Washington’s backchannel U.S. peace plan “by any means necessary”, calling on Arab states to refrain from normalizing relations with Israel.

Hamas and Fatah have remained at odds since the former seized the Gaza Strip from the latter in mid-2007.

In 2017, the two factions signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in hopes of ending years of division.

The agreement, however, was never implemented due to longstanding differences between the two movements.