The Great March of Return was a major Palestinian protest movement which began on 30 March 2018 with the goal of ending the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, ensuring the Palestinian right of return, and protesting the United States' moving of its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. By November 2019, the protests had left 183 Palestinians dead and 9,204 wounded, while 1 Israeli was killed and 11 wounded. On 27 December 2019, Hamas announced that the March would be “postponed”, ending the movement.
History[]
On 30 March 2018, the same day as the Palestinian holiday of "Land Day", five tent camps were set up along the Gaza Strip-Israel border, with 30,000 Palestinians demonstrating against the Israeli government's blockade of Gaza and the US recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. The protests escalated through April and May; while the originally-eeaceful protests were supposed to end on 15 May - "Nakba Day" - the protests took a turn for the worse as young men rolled burning tires towards the fence to provide smoke screens, and stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown at IDF troops. The Palestinians also sent kites bearing incendiary devices over the fences to damage Israeli homes. Hamas spokesman Mahmoud al-Zahar admitted that Hamas had deceived the public with promises of "peaceful resistance" and that the movement was bolstered by a military force and by security agencies. The Israelis responded to the demonstrations with tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, and live ammunition, and, at the protests' peak on 14 May, 50 Hamas and 3 Palestinian Islamic Jihad members were killed by the IDF. On 13 June 2018, the United Nations General Assembly condemned Israel's use of deadly force against the protesters. The outbreak of violence in Gaza ended in December 2019 after it was announced that the “Great March” would be “postponed”.