Palestinian lawyers protest Israeli siege on Gaza

Scores of Palestinian lawyers staged a rally in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to protest Israel's 12-year blockade on the seaside territory.

"Stop killing civilians by the occupation" reads one of the banners held by participants in the rally held at the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip.

"We call on the international community to shoulder their moral and legal responsibility and intervene to end the siege," Faten Lulu, a lawyer with "Lawyers Against Blockade Association, a Gaza-based NGO that organized the rally, told Anadolu Agency.

"We also call for piling pressure on Israel to fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under international law," she said, going on to call on the UN to "bring Israel to accountability over its crimes against civilians in the Palestinian territories".

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Palestinian group Hamas seized control of the strip from its rival group Fatah, badly affecting livelihood in the Palestinian enclave.

Palestinians have been staging weekly protests near Gaza border to demand an end to the Israeli siege on the strip that deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic amenities.

Since the Gaza rallies began last year, nearly 270 protesters have been martyred -- and thousands more wounded -- by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone.