More Palestinians were killed, wounded by Israeli troops in fresh Gaza border protests

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Smoke billows behind a group of Palestinians during a tent city protest along the Israel border with Gaza. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters
Smoke billows behind a group of Palestinians during a tent city protest along the Israel border with Gaza. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

At least three Palestinians were killed and dozens were reported wounded as hundreds converged on the Gaza Strip’s border fence with Israel on Friday, trying to rip through it before drawing heavy Israeli fire.

Palestinian health officials reported three people killed and 611 wounded, including 138 hit by live fire in incidents along the border throughout the day.

In Friday’s unrest, a large crowd gathered a few hundred metres from the border, with some throwing stones and setting tyres on fire in what has become a weekly occurrence.

Late in the afternoon, dozens of young men broke away from the larger protest, moving south about 200 metres and approaching the fence. The crowd then tried to break through the fence with hooks and wire cutters when Israeli forces opened fire. Witnesses said three protesters briefly crossed into Israel and turned around.

Hundreds of additional protesters ran to the scene, and the numbers quickly grew to several thousand. Israeli armoured vehicles sped to the site and fired barrages of tear gas. As gunfire erupted, the crowd dispersed. A dozen Palestinian ambulances jammed a dirt road lining up to evacuate the wounded. Some in the crowd shouted “shahid” (“martyr”) as bodies were taken away on stretchers.

‘Thwarted’ infiltration attempt

Israelis protest in solidarity with Gaza near the border. (Oren Ziv / Activestills.org)
Israelis protest in solidarity with Gaza near the border. (Oren Ziv / Activestills.org)

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had “thwarted” an attempted infiltration by Palestinian protesters.

It said “hundreds of rioters” tried to burn the fence and enter Israel. It said the crowd threw explosives, firebombs and rocks, and that troops opened fire “in accordance with the rules of engagement” and halted the crowd. It released a video showing a young Palestinian man placing a burning tyre along the fence in an apparent attempt to set it on fire. In another, a small group lobs stones at an Israeli military vehicle on the other side of the fence.

In other incidents, the military said Palestinian crowds rolled burning tyres, hurled rocks and flew kites with flaming objects attached with the goal of damaging the fence and other Israeli targets. It also released a photo appearing to show a group of youths tugging at barbed wire along the fence.

The marches, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-old border blockade, have been organised by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers but have also been driven by widespread despair in the coastal territory of two million people.

Gaza organisers say the marches are also pressing for the “right of return” of refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. Two-thirds of Gaza residents are descendants of refugees who fled or were expelled from properties during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. The protests are to culminate on May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s creation. Hamas organisers have made conflicting statements about whether they plan a mass border breach at some point.

Hamas’s supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, visited a protest camp in the southern town of Rafah, vowing larger protests in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and among Palestinian refugees in other countries on May 15. “Our people will not slow down the protests until they get their rights,” he said.

The Israeli military has repeatedly said it will not allow Gazans to burst across the border. Israeli communities are located just a few hundred metres away.

However, Israel has come under heavy international criticism for allegedly using excessive force.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said Israeli troops have not heeded warnings by the United Nations and others, repeatedly using lethal force against unarmed protesters in the past month.

Gaza health officials say that four minors, including a 14-year-old boy, have been among the dead.

“The loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators – not once, not twice, but repeatedly,” the commissioner said.

Israel ‘diligently defending its sovereignty’

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Faris al-Reqib, 29, who was killed during clashes at Israel-Gaza border, during his funeral in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip (photo credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS)
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Faris al-Reqib, 29, who was killed during clashes at Israel-Gaza border, during his funeral in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip (photo credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS)

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said Israel is “diligently defending its sovereignty” and accused Zeid of encouraging Hamas’s “exploitation of civilians”. He said the commissioner is “not focused on human rights, but only with obsessively criticising Israel”.

Thousands have taken part in the Friday demonstrations from five protest tent camps, each set up several hundred metres from the border fence. Small groups usually move towards the fence, setting tyres ablaze to hamper the vision of the security forces while others throw stones or firebombs.

Israeli soldiers, including snipers taking cover behind sand berms, have responded by firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds.

Israel’s military has said troops are under orders to target “instigators”, but has also warned that anyone approaching or trying to damage the fence risks his life.

Rights groups have said such open-fire rules are unlawful because they allow soldiers to use potentially lethal force in situations where their lives are not in danger.

Israeli officials have said that some of the protesters in recent weeks tried to damage the border fence or plant explosives along it. Others have tried to set Israeli fields on fire on the other side of the fence by hurling improvised explosives or firebombs, or flying the flaming kites.

A group of Palestinian activists calling themselves “the tyres unit” arrived Friday on a truck laden with old tyres. A van mounted with loudspeakers followed the truck with chants and applause. Tyres were set ablaze, filling the air with thick smoke. With hooks and a long rope, the activists pulled at parts of the barbed wire adjacent to the fence.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

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93 responses to “More Palestinians were killed, wounded by Israeli troops in fresh Gaza border protests”

  1. Niemals Avatar

    Despite the fact that Israelis shows solidarity with Gaza near the border, I’m sure that the following Pallywood clumsiness will be added as a wound caused by Israeli troops…. https://twitter.com/OnlineMagazin/status/990194831187238913
    Any comment about the following Pallywood production?
    https://twitter.com/OnlineMagazin/status/990557012701442049
    After have seen it, I’m not surprised that Hamas is winning the propaganda war.

    1. Hamas will always remain a terrorist group, lead by nonnegotiable extremist Islamist. There is no point in even attempting to progress with peace under such leaders in Gaza.

      1. Niemals Avatar

        Fundamentalist Islamists don’t change.
        Peace is not their goal!
        Islamic fundamentalism seek to eliminate the non-Islamic influences from every part of their lives.

        1. Which is why I fail to see what the brain-dead Islamic zombie horde hope to achieve? Their goals are unrealistic and unattainable, all they acomplish is prolonging the suffering.

          1. Niemals Avatar
            Niemals

            That is ONE of the brain-dead Islamic zombie newcomers…. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f622bbedb54ef5e49acdcaddcab76cad3cc6eaf4a4b177ee2c797957482d3cc3.jpg According to witnesses, the 23-year-old Syrian had forced a car driver to stop and then smashed the car with the iron bar, which was apparently part of a road sign, the windows of the car, reported the police in the afternoon on the preliminary investigation. He also attacked the woman and injured her. Then the man damaged even more cars, obstructed by his behavior the traffic and made for a traffic jam. (maz-online)
            https://twitter.com/OnlineMagazin/status/990957513519575040

          2. Rascal Avatar

            Poor Germany, committing cultural suicide like the rest of Europe.

          3. Rascal Avatar

            Seeing we are talking about German refugees, here is one for ya.
            The government need to get tough on this type of trash, but sadly in many ways he is right. This is a good example of bad people that need to be rounded up and jailed or deported.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0WNlHlwqUs&feature=youtu.be

          4. Niemals Avatar
            Niemals
          5. Niemals Avatar
            Niemals

            Four days after the asylum seekers in Ellwangen prevented the deportation of an African, the police returned with hundreds of volunteers.
            150 Africans demolished police cars so violently that officials had to let the detainee to go.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c8148f8820c889330c5642d441788a9492cdba623df2f774c0c3fc3847fbadee.jpg In the action, the 23-year-old Togoer was arrested.

            In response to the riots the CDU domestic politician Armin Schuster demanded a tougher crackdown by the security authorities.
            “In our constitutional state, there are clear red lines that are now deliberately exceeded by asylum seekers almost every day,” said Schuster “Focus Online”.
            https://twitter.com/OnlineMagazin/status/992005271710027776

  2. Yawn…….I still fathom to understand what the Pallie expect to achieve with violence. They are their OWN worst enemy. Learn to co-exist peacefully or face survival of the fittest.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      The zombie poster IQ showing.

      1. go to hell witch silly cow

      2. MaImequer0 Avatar
        MaImequer0

        Daft mare…

        1. Hi Malmequer0, we (and silly cow) were missing You.

          1. MaImequer0 Avatar
            MaImequer0

            Oh, thanks. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Montreal. Not really doing anything, just looking around and doing a little shopping for amateur “art”.

          2. i’m still here even after was spammed my account
            but mostly i commenting on NotJErusalemPost, much more intelligent place
            Also i’m on wikimapia, if You like Art You are welcomed here http://old.wikimapia.org/#lat=-57.4258236&lon=-158.8082313&z=8&l=0&m=w You can move, zoom, click, edit map, add polygons, description in all languages, photos…

      3. Hind Abyad Avatar

        THINK-ISRAEL BLOG-EDS
        http://think-israel.org/

  3. Hannibal Avatar

    The genocide of a people and a culture under the eyes of all humanity.

    1. Reality check, pal: you, Bumbyad, and the rest of your ilk are not “humanity”. Unless one classifies cockroaches as human, that is.

      1. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        European Parliament motion for a resolution on the situation in the Gaza strip

        ..with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
        pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure
        on the situation in the Gaza strip (2018/2663(RSP))

        http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+B8-2018-0210+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=de

        1. infosharmuta, EP accused Hamas already on the situation
          Apr 19, 2018 – The European Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a resolution that denounces Hamas
          as a terrorist group that uses human shields, calls for Israel’s
          destruction and “seems to aim at escalating tensions” at the Gaza-Israel
          border

        2. Hannibal Avatar
          Hannibal

          Israel was supposed to be a kingdom of God but it turned into Israhell a kingdom of satan, the ugliest nation that ever existed, a nation of vipers and scorpions.

          1. go to hell kannibal you are fake, infosharmuta

        3. MaImequer0 Avatar
          MaImequer0

          Hey sweetie… Arik say’s hello ☻☻☻

      2. Cockroaches is a little harsh! And what culture?
        They are a people without honor.

    2. another one infosharmuta – Kannibal. You don’t know what is really genocide and i wish you not know. Don’t throw falsification. Hamas, HA are humanity?

      1. lol culture? suck dick of drunken monkey
        Kinnibal is antisemitic humanist lol

  4. MaryTPresumptuous Avatar
    MaryTPresumptuous

    You wanted your own land for your own country. Gaza is part of that brave new world carved-out for you. Now stay on your side and out of the country you didn’t want to be a part of in the first place. If you stop trying to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, you could focus on building a better life for yourselves instead of envy.

  5. Niemals Avatar
    Niemals

    Palestinian Authority cuts salaries of Gaza-based civil servants by 20 percent. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/063796170c1815138510cf6f4480b2d876549d448382e7005fb79d6ab34c885e.jpg

  6. Niemals Avatar
    Niemals

    Abbas to Hamas:
    Keep children away from border riots.

    Mahmoud Abbas attacked Hamas during a Palestinian National Council (PNC) conference in Ramallah, and called on the terror organization to stop placing children at the front of its “March of Return” protests.

    “Keep the children away from border confrontations,” Abbas appealed. “We don’t want a generation with disabilities.”

  7. Niemals Avatar
    Niemals

    Today 12th it’s Friday again and demonstrators arrived at the Gaza-Israel border for the last Friday of a six-week protest at the Gaza-Israel border.

    Organizers of the protest said they expected tens of thousands of Gazans at border encampments in the coming days.

    Did the organizers of the protest calculated how many Palestinians will be killed during the protest this weekend?

    The Palestinians (Hamas) are adding more Palestinian victims, as if the “Nakba” wasn’t enough, so the new generation of Palestinians are ‘invited’ to their additional catastrophe.

  8. Niemals Avatar
    Niemals

    May 16th, the former Grand Mufti of Lebanon Mohammed Rashid Qabbani issued a fatwa according to which Palestinians and all Arabs and Muslims have a duty to wage Jihad “to liberate Palestine from the occupation of the Jews of the Balfour Declaration.” Sheikh Qabbani compared the liberation of Palestine today to the Jihad waged by the Prophet Muhammad, by Omar ibn Al-Khattab, and by Saladin, and declared that Islam forbids the Palestinians and all Arab and Muslim countries “to surrender, to reconcile, to make peace treaties, or to concede a single inch of Arab Palestinian land to the foreign Jewish occupiers.”
    Sheikh Qabbani’s address aired on Al-Mayadeen TV on May 16.

    We know too that Iran has provided Hamas’s Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades and other Gaza factions “a lot of money, equipment, and expertise.” from the interview that was aired on May 21 on the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV channel.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d999a54c3a9609b2f64dd679f4cf24c1ee27950af61c440e7f48647d970e7d9.jpg
    Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar said, in an interview with the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV channel, that with the help of Iran, Hamas has managed to significantly develop its capabilities. Sinwar added that Iran has provided Hamas’s Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades and other Gaza factions “a lot of money, equipment, and expertise.” He further said that his organization had “excellent” relations with Hizbullah and that there is coordination on an “almost daily” basis between the two organizations, and described Hamas’s relations with Iran, the IRGC, and Qasem Solimani as “strong and warm.”

  9. Media student Alaa Al Nemer hit by a missile deliberately by Israeli soldiers while reporting live in Gaza during the so called Great March Of Return.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49c18a5159663cb54b311daf105fecb50fb023261ff7acfb0362bddb0ec7a5b6.jpg
    Checking in a slow motion (the 20th second), you can’t see any bleeding from a rifle bullet, only stone dust
    Its not the first time that they get hit by a stone – like this hit by a friend behind him…. https://youtu.be/It9hxtmY2x4

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