JERUSALEM- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced Saturday anational day of mourning in honor of the victims.

Thousands of people attended the funeral of one of the Palestinian victims,identified as Sari Walid Abu Odeh, in the city of Beit Hanoun on thenortheast edge of the Gaza Strip.

Dubbed “The Great March of Return,” Friday’s rallies in Gaza coincided withthe 42nd anniversary of Land Day, which commemorates the murder of sixPalestinians by Israeli forces in 1976.

The Return rallies will culminate on 15 May, which marks Nakba Day (Dayof Catastrophe) on which Israel was created.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. Theblockade has caused a decline in living standards as well as unprecedentedunemployment and poverty.

Tel Aviv has waged three wars on the coastal enclave since 2008, includingthe 2014 offensive, which left more than 2,200 Palestinians dead.