Israeli premier to meet officials to confer Gaza escalations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to hold several meetings to discuss recent escalations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, Israeli media reported Thursday.

According to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu will meet with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and head of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency, Nadav Argman, in addition to other security officials.

"The meeting, which will take place at defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, will assess the current security situation vis-à-vis Gaza," the paper reported.

It went on to note that this initial meeting would be followed by a meeting of Netanyahu's Cabinet.

Since Palestinians in Gaza began holding mass rallies on March 30, at least 155 protesters have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.

Protesters demand the "right of return" to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel's 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave's economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.