© AP/Khalil Hamra
Relatives of a Palestinian Iman who was shot and killed Friday by Israeli troops during the ongoing protest along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, carry his body to the family house during his funeral in Gaza City, April 14, 2018.
Faced with the unimaginable choices of being shot by snipers, crushed by rubble from an air strike, or dying slowly as the Strip becomes more uninhabitable with each passing day, Gazans have made it clear that they will resist until the very end.
Though Gaza has long been the target of Israeli hostility - which has ranged from a decades-long illegal blockade of the area to several wars of aggression - this year has arguably been unlike any other for Palestinians who call the Gaza Strip their home, as
airstrikes pound the area and its infrastructure still struggles to function. Those Gazans who have decided to participate in unarmed protests along the border with Israel have been
regularly killed by Israeli snipers. Meanwhile, another war with Israel
looms.
This year began in Gaza not with fireworks but
with air strikes, as Israel targeted Gaza during a night-time raid, allegedly responding to rocket fire from Palestinian resistance group Hamas. The strikes continued throughout January and into February, followed by more airstrikes in March targeting central Gaza and agricultural land in the area. Israel has used many alleged incidents as pretexts for the strikes, ranging from reports of rocket fire to alleged breaches of the border fence.
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