GAZA, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday against a tight Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave for more than ten years.
The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and banners in both Arabic and English calling on Israel to end the blockade that was a main cause for the deterioration of the living condition in Gaza.
"End the blockade, the blockade is the crime of the century," said the banners held by the demonstrators in the streets of Gaza City. The demonstration was organized by the Gaza Employees Union.
Sohail al-Hindi, chairman of the union told Xinhua that the demonstration was organized after the daily living situation in the Gaza Strip has become unbearable, where then populations' life is in real danger.
He warned that the demonstration is a first action against the Israeli blockade, adding that next steps will focus of taking the employees wives and children and peacefully demonstrate close to the borders between the Gaza Strip and Israel,
The Palestinian official also called on both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Party and Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip to end more than ten years of internal division that negatively influenced Gaza life.
Tahrir al-Masri, one of the participants in the demonstration said that the situation in the Gaza Strip is horrible and the daily life conditions are very difficult and very risky on the lives of the populations.
Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 and considered the coastal enclave a hostile entity right after Hamas movement had violently seized control of the territory and routed Abbas security forces.
