Advertisement
Advertisement
Israel
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Palestinian protesters stand on sands hill as others carry tires to burn during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Friday. Photo: AP

Seven killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza protest

Israel

Israeli troops opened fire on thousands of Palestinians protesting along Gaza’s sealed border with Israel on Friday, killing seven and wounding dozens of others in the second mass border protest in a week, Gaza health officials said.

Black smoke from burning tyres engulfed the volatile area in smoke to try to block the view of Israeli snipers as a Hamas leader pledged that the border fence would  eventually fall.

Hundreds more suffered other injuries, including tear gas inhalation, the officials said.

The deaths brought to 29 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since last week.

The latest casualties were bound to draw new criticism from rights groups that have branded Israel’s open-fire orders on the border as unlawful, after Israel’s defence minister warned that those approaching the fence were risking their lives.

Palestinian protesters carry a wounded fellow demonstrator during clashes with Israeli troops. Photo: EPA-EFE
An injured Palestinian protestor receives treatment at a medical tent during clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza-Israel border on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday it has indications that Israeli forces used “excessive force” against protesters last week, when 15 Palestinians were killed or later died of wounds sustained near the border.

An Israeli military spokesman defended the rules of engagement.

“If they are actively attacking the fence, if they are throwing a Molotov cocktail that is within striking distance of Israeli troops or similar activities, then those persons, those rioters, become, may become, a target,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.

Friday’s large crowds suggested that Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has ruled Gaza since a 2007 takeover, might be able to keep the momentum going in the next few weeks. 

Hamas has called for a series of protests until May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s founding when Palestinians commemorate their mass uprooting during the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

Israel has said that Hamas is using the mass marches as a cover for attacking the border fence, and has vowed to prevent a breach at all costs.

A Palestinian demonstrator covers his face during clashes with Israeli security forces during the Gaza border protest. Photo: AFP

The military said that on Friday, protesters hurled several explosive devices and firebombs, using the thick plumes of smoke from burning tyres as a cover, and that several attempts to cross the fence were thwarted.

Gaza’s shadowy Hamas leader, Yehiyeh Sinwar, told a cheering crowd in one of the protest camps Friday that a border breach was coming.

The world should “wait for our great move, when we penetrate the borders and pray at Al-Aqsa,” Sinwar said, referring to the Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

He was interrupted several times by the crowd, which chanted, “We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs!” and “God bless you Sinwar!”

The mass protests are perhaps Hamas’s last chance to break a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, without having to succumb to demands that it disarm. 

The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. It has also devastated Gaza’s economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory and left residents with just a few hours of electricity a day.

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man during clashes with Israeli troops. Photo: Xinhua

Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza’s two million people by disarming and renouncing violence.

Friday’s marches began before Muslim noon prayers when thousands of Palestinians streamed to five tent encampments that organisers had set up several hundred yards from the border fence.

In one camp near the border community of Khuzaa, smaller groups of activists moved closer to the fence after the prayers. 

Demonstrators torched large piles of tyres, engulfing the area in black smoke meant to shield them from Israeli snipers; the faces of some activists were covered in black soot.

Israeli troops on the other side of the fence responded with live fire, tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and water cannons.

After the first tyres started burning, several young men with gunshot wounds began arriving at a field clinic at the camp.

A Palestinian demonstrator covers her face with the colours of her national flag during clashes with Israeli security forces on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on Friday. Photo: AFP

Mohammed Ashour, 20, who had been among the first to set tyres on fire, was shot in the right arm.

“We came here because we want dignity,” he said resting on a stretcher before paramedics transported him to the strip’s main hospital.

Yehia Abu Daqqa, a 20-year-old student, said he had come to honour those killed in previous protests.

“Yes, there is fear,” he said of the risks of advancing toward the fence. “We are here to tell the occupation that we are not weak.”

More than 1,000 people suffered a range of injuries on Friday, including those hit by live fire and those overcome by tear gas, the Gaza health ministry said. Twelve women and 48 minors were among those hurt, the officials said.

Palestinian demonstrators cover their faces as they burn tyres during a protest. Photo: AFP

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

He said that UN Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov had been in touch with Israeli and Palestinian officials to reinforce “the need to allow people to demonstrate peacefully.” 

Mladenov stressed the need to ensure that “excessive force is not used, and the need to ensure that children are not deliberately put in harm’s way,” Dujarric said.

A White House envoy urged Palestinians to stay away from the fence. Jason Greenblatt said the United States condemns “leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters – including children – to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed.”

Post