JERUSALEM – Atleast seven Palestinians were killed and 500 wounded Fridayin the ongoing violent clashes between hundreds of Palestinians and theIsraeli soldiers during a popular march close to the border between GazaStrip and Israel, medics said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza health ministry spokesman told reporters that earlyon Friday, Israeli soldiers targeted two farmers close to the border withthe southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, killing a 27-year-old farmerand wounding another.
Later on Friday, six other Palestinian demonstrators were shot dead andaround 500 injured by Israeli troops’ gunfire near the border betweeneastern Gaza Strip and Israel during heavy violent confrontations,according to al-Qedra.
The confrontations broke out Friday morning when Israeli soldiers stationedat the border fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Palestinians fromapproaching the fence. Young demonstrators threw stones at the soldiers,according to witnesses.
Al-Qedra said that six Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops’gunfire during the clashes in eastern Gaza.
The eyewitnesses said the Israeli army sent more forces, including armoredvehicles, snipers, sniffing dogs and soldiers equipped with tear gas,rubber bullets and live ammunition to prevent Palestinians from reachingthe fence of the borders.
Thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, arrived by busesat six different areas in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, close to theborder with Israel to join the “Great March of Return.”
The march, which began Friday on the occasion of the Land Day, is scheduledto end on May 15, which coincides with 70 years of the Palestinian Day of“the Nakba,” or the catastrophe, when the state of Israel was born in 1948.
Palestinian stone-throwers clashed on Friday with Israeli troops in severallocations along the Israel-Gaza border fence, as mass sit-ins touted byGaza’s Hamas rulers as peaceful protests quickly spun out of control.
Witnesses said hundreds of Palestinians participated in clashes, whilethousands more gathered in tent encampments set up in five sites several ata distance of several hundred meters from the border.
The Israeli military said thousands of Palestinians rolled burning tiresand threw stones at forces stationed on the border. It said troops openedfire at the “main instigators.”
The military said it views with “great severity any breach of Israelisovereignty or damage to the security fence.”
Several hours before the confrontations, a Palestinian farmer was killed byan Israeli tank shell in the southern Gaza Strip, the Gaza Health Ministrysaid.
Israel’s military said ahead of the protests that it doubled its standardtroop level along the border, deploying snipers, special forces andparamilitary border police units, which specialise in riot control. Themilitary said it would not allow the crowds to breach the fence or damagemilitary infrastructure.
Previous protests near the border fence in recent months have turneddeadly, with Israeli soldiers firing live bullets at Palestinians burningtires, throwing stones or hurling firebombs.
On Friday, mosques across Gaza called on Palestinians to join the protests.Buses took protesters to the border area, including five tent encampmentsset up from north to south, several hundred meters from the border fence.By noon, thousands had arrived at the encampments.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised the turnout.
“The large crowds … reflect the Palestinian people’s determination toachieve the right of return and break the siege and no force can stop thisright,” he said.
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ supreme leader along with Gaza leader Yehiyeh Sinwarvisited the tents.
The sit-ins are seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break a crippling,decade-old Gaza border blockade by Israel and Egypt that has made itincreasingly difficult for the militant group to govern.
Other tactics over the years, including cross-border wars with Israel andattempts to reconcile with political rival Mahmoud Abbas, the WestBank-based Palestinian president, have failed to end Gaza’s isolation.
Friday’s actions are to be the first in a series of protests planned inGaza in the coming weeks. The activities are to culminate on May 15, the70th anniversary of Israel’s creation, with a march through the borderfence.
Palestinians commemorate the date as the anniversary of their massdisplacement and uprooting during the 1948 Mideast war over Israel’screation. The vast majority of Gaza residents are descendants ofPalestinians who fled or were driven from communities in what is now Israel.
The Palestinian killed on Friday was identified as 27-year-old Amr Samour.Israel said troops had directed tank fire at suspicious figures near theborder fence in the area.
Yasser Samour, a relative and fellow farmer, said Amr Samour was harvestingparsley before dawn, in hopes of selling it fresh in the market later inthe day.
“I was working on the next field,” Yasser Samour said. “We heard shellinglanding on the field where Amr works. We ran there and found him hitdirectly with a shell. We were more than a kilometre away from the border.”Another farmer was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, Samour said. – APP /AFP