What are International Jerusalem Day and the Naksa?

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Protests are officially set to begin at 2pm local time (11 GMT) near the high-security fence separating Gaza from Israel, although local Palestinian media reported that Israeli forces had already shot towards demonstrators earlier in the day.

Friday marks International Jerusalem Day - an occasion commemorated on the fourth Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan each year since 1979, the year of the holiday’s creation in Iran. International Jerusalem Day also happens to fall this year during the 51st anniversary of the 1967 Middle East war, also known to Palestinians as the Naksa, or "Setback".

During the war, Israel seized control of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. The Sinai Peninsula was later returned to Egypt in 1982, the West Bank and Golan Heights remain under Israeli occupation and the Gaza Strip suffers under a crippling siege.

The international community and some Israelis typically consider the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to constitute Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, but it’s worth noting that many Palestinians deem all lands that have fallen under Israel’s control since the state’s inception in 1948 to be under Israeli occupation.