Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>Palestinians burn posters depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and a U.S. flag and Israeli flag during a protest against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City on Jan.1, 2018.

As the transfer of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem approaches, Palestinians are planning to march by the tens of thousands to the fence that encloses the Gaza Strip to dramatize their plight.

“We want to frighten the Israelis with the images of massive crowds of people who peaceably gather and sit close to the border,” Hamas spokesman Ahmed Abu Retaima said. “We are working to bring out more than 100,000 people for the march.”

The announcement comes amid growing tensions over President Donald Trump’s December recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and a U.S peace plan that has yet to see the light of day. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has cut off all contact with the White House since December, this week called U.S. ambassador David Friedman a “son of a dog,” a slur Friedman said carried an air of anti-Semitism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that Palestinian leaders -- used to being “spoiled” by U.S. administrations -- were “losing their cool.”

Israeli authorities are bracing for escalation beginning March 30, when Hamas will begin building tent camps along Gaza’s 40-kilometer (25-mile) border with Israel. Six weeks later Palestinians plan a mass march toward the border, defying warnings from Israeli officials -- who doubt the march will remain peaceful -- to stay 100 meters from the fence.

Hamas’ planned march comes amid a surge in violence in recent weeks. Palestinians, who demand the eastern part of Jerusalem as their own capital, have been storming the Gaza fence and planting bombs targeting Israeli soldiers, drawing retaliatory fire and airstrikes. Several Israelis have been killed in stabbing and car-ramming attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Trump’s envoys have continued preparing their peace plan and say they will present it when the time is right. According to a new poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, 88 percent of Palestinians believe the plan will favor Israel. Abbas has already pledged to reject the plan.

For more on the controversy over Jerusalem, click here

P.A. officials refused to attend last week’s White House summit that brought together Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries seeking solutions for Gaza’s humanitarian distress. Abbas on Monday described the summit as a plot against the Palestinians and said he was imposing fresh sanctions on Hamas in Gaza.

Efforts to repair the schism between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have fallen apart, exacerbated by last week’s bombing of the motorcade carrying the P.A.’s prime minister and intelligence chief on a rare visit to Gaza. Abbas blamed Hamas for the attack; Hamas accused Abbas of undermining Palestinian unity.

Israeli officials say Abbas’s pressure on Hamas is intensifying the distress of Gaza’s 1.9 million inhabitants, which Hamas seeks to channel against Israel. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman last week accused Abbas of trying to push Israel and Hamas into war.

What ever happened to hopes for a two-state solution?

The Gaza protests correspond with red-letter dates on the Palestinian calendar. March 30 is “Land Day,” marking a 1976 incident when Israeli forces killed six Arab citizens amid violent demonstrations. In mid-May, when the U.S. embassy is tentatively slated to open, Palestinians commemorate the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, of Israel’s founding.

The Hamas march is “clearly an attempt to break through the fences, and they are ready to tolerate losses,” Ehud Yaari, an international fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a conference call.

Hamas also appealed to Palestinians in the West Bank to confront Israeli soldiers and settlers to keep the conflict “boiling.” Abbas’s government is sponsoring frequent “Days of Rage” where Palestinians are expected to vent their anger at Israel.

Yousef Munayyer, an analyst at the Arab Center in Washington, said the border march will force Israel into an unpalatable choice.

“You’re essentially talking about the Israeli military lining up like a firing squad against a wall of Palestinians civilians walking toward the fence,” Munayyer said. “I don’t think that’s the optics the Israelis want to have out there.”</s>Israeli jets have carried out several airstrikes in the Gaza Strip just hours after its tanks targeted Palestinian Hamas resistance movement positions in the coastal sliver.

 During the Saturday night airstrikes a factory and several buildings belonging to Hamas were targeted by the Tel Aviv regime’s warplanes. There have been no reports of casualties yet.

 The Israeli army has confirmed the attacks, claiming they were carried out in response to the explosive device that went off next to a border fence.

 Earlier in the day, at least one Palestinian man sustained injuries after Israeli battle tanks targeted the eastern part of the Gaza Strip.

 At least one Palestinian has been injured after Israeli battle tanks shelled the eastern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.

 The Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported that three rounds of shell struck an observation post belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement east of al-Shujaya neighborhood in Gaza City, injuring a civilian who was taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to receive treatment. The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.

 Israel has also launched several wars on the Palestinian coastal sliver, the last of which began in early July 2014. The military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians. Over 11,100 others were also wounded in the war.

 The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007.—Agencies</s>"The council of ministers demands from the Hamas movement to immediately cede control over the Gaza Strip," the statement said.

According to the document, the government is ready to take responsibility for Gaza in order to save it from the dangers that surround it and prevent Israel from splitting Palestine.

The statement was issued after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had directly accused Hamas of the bomb attack on Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah's motorcade during his visit to Gaza last week and threatened to impose sanctions against the enclave.

On March 13, an explosion hit a site near Hamdallah's motorcade in the Gaza Strip. Hamdallah himself was not injured in the blast. The Palestinian National Authority placed the blame for the attack on the Hamas movement, which has been governing the Gaza Strip. Hamas, in turn, condemned the attack on Hamdallah's convoy and called on law enforcement agencies to find the perpetrators as soon as possible.

Nabil Shaath, the foreign affairs adviser of Abbas, told Sputnik in February that the intra-Palestinian reconciliation process had been put on hold, because the Hamas movement had not yet relinquished administrative control over the Gaza Strip.

READ MORE: Israeli Tanks Target Hamas Posts in Gaza in Response to Explosions — IDF

Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization in a number of countries, including in the United States and Israel, gained control of the Gaza Strip after a short war with Fatah in 2007. Fatah has repeatedly criticized Hamas for dividing the country and preventing the Palestinian Unity Government from ruling the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians are planning a mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip, ahead of the U.S. Embassy move.