Hamas: Members slain in Gaza
Group says those killed were ’defending their dignity, rights’
JERUSALEM — Most of the protesters killed this week by Israeli fire along the border with the Gaza Strip were members of Hamas, the militant group said Wednesday — an admission that deepens the starkly different narratives on both sides over the deaths.
Israel, which has faced blistering international criticism over its response, is likely to latch on to the remarks to bolster its claims that Hamas has used the weekly border protests as cover to stage attacks.
But with the images of rifletoting Israeli snipers facing off against seemingly unarmed protesters beamed around the world, the remarks by Hamas may do little to convince Israel’s detractors, including the Palestinians.
In an interview with Baladna TV, a private Palestinian news outlet that broadcasts via Facebook, senior Hamas official Salah Bardawil said 50 out of the nearly 60 protesters killed Monday were Hamas members, with the others being “from the people.”
Bardawil did not elaborate on the nature of their membership in the group and his claim could not be independently verified. It was unclear if the protesters he was referring to were militants or civilian supporters of the Islamic group, which rules Gaza and opposes Israel’s existence.
The affiliation may matter little to those who have deemed Israel’s response to the protests to be heavy-handed.
For Israel, it was enough to cement its narrative.
“It was clear to Israel and now it is clear to the whole world that there was no popular protest. This was an organized mob of terrorists organized by Hamas,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had tallied similar numbers to Hamas and “won’t let those who call for our destruction to breach our borders and to threaten our communities.”
In response to the uproar over his remarks, Bardawil later said in a statement that Israel was “legitimizing the killing of Palestinians just because they are Palestinians or just because they are Hamas, even if they were unarmed and defending their dignity and rights.”
Organizers say the wave of border protests is meant in large part to break a decade-old blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt and pressure Israel to ease its restrictions.
Since the Hamas-led protests began March 30, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded by live fire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Palestinian officials say the vast majority of the casualties have been unarmed protesters. One Israeli soldier has been wounded.
The weekly protests peaked on Monday when about 40,000 Gazans descended on the border area. As in previous demonstrations, the protesters burned tires and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops, and tried to attack the border fence.