One killed, 223 wounded by Israeli fire
Palestinians stage mass protest on sealed border
GAZA, PALESTINIAN TERRITORY — Thousands of Palestinians, some burning Israeli flags and torching tires, staged a mass protest on Gaza’s sealed border with Israel for a third consecutive Friday, as part of a pressure campaign to break a decade-old blockade of their territory.
Israeli live fire from across the border killed a 28-year-old Palestinian man and wounded at least 223, Gaza health officials said.
The death brought to 28 the number of protesters killed in two weeks, with more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire since March 30, they said.
The marches have been organized by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, but large turnouts on two preceding Fridays were also driven by desperation among the territory’s two million residents who have been enduring a crippling border closure by Israel and Egypt since 2007.
“We want to live like everyone else in the world,” said construction worker Omar Hamada, 37, an unemployed father of eight. “We came here so the world can see us and know that life here is miserable, and that there should be a solution.”
On Friday, the turnout seemed to be significantly lower than on previous Fridays raising questions about the organizers’ goal of keeping the mass marches going until mid-May.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 969 people were hurt Friday, including 223 by live fire and the rest by tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets or shrapnel. Fifteen of the wounded were in serious condition, including a Gaza journalist. The count also included 67 minors and 20 women, health officials said.
Rights groups have described the Israeli military’s open-fire regulations as unlawful, saying they permit soldiers to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.
Israel has accused Gaza’s Islamic militant Hamas rulers of using the protests as a cover for attacks and says snipers only target the main “instigators.”
On Friday, most of the demonstrators assembled at five tent camps located several hundred meters from the border fence.
Smaller groups moved closer to the fence, throwing stones, torching tires and burning large Israeli flags, U.S. flags, as well as posters of Israel’s prime minister and defence minister. Large plumes of black smoke from burning tires rose into the sky.
Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds. Military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that Palestinians repeatedly tried to damage the border fence, throwing several explosives and fire bombs at it.
Footage distributed by the military showed an area of the fence made up of several layers of barbed wire coils. Protesters stuck a Palestinian flag into the fence and affixed a rope, using it to tug at the coils. One man threw a burning tire into the fence, while another was seen walking nearby with the help of a crutch.
Gaza has endured a border blockade by Israel and Egypt since Hamas overran the territory in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections.
The blockade has driven Gaza deeper into poverty, with unemployment approaching 50 per cent and electricity available for less than five hours a day.
The marchers are protesting against the blockade, but are also asserting what they say is a “right of return” of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.
Hamas leaders have sent mixed signals about whether they plan an eventual mass breach of the border fence. The protests are to culminate in a large rally on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s creation. Palestinians mourn the event as their “nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.
Several thousand people gathered Friday at one of the tent camps, east of Gaza City. The camp was decked out in Palestinian flags. At the entrance, organizers had laid a large Israeli flag on the ground for protesters to step on.