Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces near the perimeter fence with Israel on Saturday as thousands of protesters gathered along the frontier to mark the first anniversary of weekly protests along the Gaza Strip border, according to Palestinian medical officials.
One fatality was a 21-year-old man, shot before dawn, hours before the main afternoon rally. Two teens, both 17, died of gunshot wounds sustained during the protests — one east of Gaza City and the other in the southern city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the Gaza health ministry said.
More than 60 others were injured as troops fired tear gas at activists who approached the border, including 10 who were hurt from live fire coming from Israeli troops, Gaza’s health ministry said.
The Israeli army said about 200 Palestinians “rioted during the night along the fence” and that the army used riot dispersal means against them.
A Gaza hospital worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 21-year-old killed, Mohammad Saad, was a member of the so-called “night disturbance unit.” Such groups routinely burn tires, flash laser lights and detonate explosives near the fence at night.
A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli forces during Saturday’s protest. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
Thousands of Palestinians rallied at the Gaza-Israel border while Palestinian activists clad in bright orange vests tried to keep people from getting too close to the fence. Protest organizers told demonstrators to keep back from Israeli positions.
The Israeli military said some demonstrators were throwing rocks and burning tires.
Ambulances lined up in front of clinics and police supervised encampments.
Tensions rose this week ahead of the commemoration of the “Great March of Return” protests, which began on March 30, 2018. Fighting flared when a Gaza rocket attack wounded seven Israelis north of Tel Aviv on Monday. In response, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes and ramped up its forces at the border.
Palestinian demonstrators take cover from Israeli gunfire during a protest marking the first anniversary of a surge of border protests, at the Israel-Gaza border fence east of Gaza City on Saturday. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
The border protests call for the lifting of a security blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt in 2007, and for Palestinians to have the right to return to land from which their families fled or were forced to flee during Israel’s founding in 1948. Israel rejects that demand, saying that would eliminate its Jewish majority.
The protests have turned deadly in the past and Egyptian mediators have been working to avoid further bloodshed. Leaders of Gazan armed groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad say progress has been made in the truce talks.
However, the protest committee on Saturday called on Palestinians to hold a new protest along the perimeter fence next Friday — and organizers say the weekly event will continue into a second year.
With security already featuring prominently as an issue in Israeli elections due on April 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of Gaza will be a key issue as he seeks a fifth term in office.