Tension on rise as slain buried
GAZANS buried their dead on Saturday with calls for “revenge” a day after a mass protest led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians in the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.
The angry funeral scenes came as the US blocked a draft UN Security Council statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation into the clashes.
Several hundred protesters returned to tents erected near the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel to resume demonstrations planned to last six weeks in the blockaded enclave.
On the diplomatic front, UN chief Antonio Guterres and European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini called for an “independent and transparent investigation” into Israel’s use of live ammunition.
But a motion put forward before the UN Security Council by Kuwait late on Saturday calling for such a move was rejected by the US, a Security Council diplomat said.
Israel defended the army’s firing at Palestinians who broke away from the main protest of tens of thousands and neared the heavily fortified fence around the Gaza Strip.
“Well done to our soldiers,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a statement on Saturday. “Israel acts vigorously and with determination to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens.”
An Israeli military spokesman said Friday’s events were “not a protest demonstration” but an “organised terrorist activity” by Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.
“If it continues, we shall have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip against terrorist targets which we understand to be behind these events,” said Brigadier General Ronen Manelis.
Gaza’s health ministry said 35 people suffered wounds that were not life-threatening in low-level clashes along the border on Saturday.
Thousands attended funerals for 14 of those killed – two were buried on Friday – with mourners holding Palestinian flags and some chanting “revenge” and firing into the air.
In addition to the 16 Palestinians killed, more than 1400 were wounded on Friday, 758 of them by live fire, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
No casualties were reported among Israelis.