Four Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in border clashes
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Four Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, were killed by Israeli fire in new clashes along the Gaza border, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled strip said.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf alQudra told AFP that Mohammed al-Houm, 14, and Iyad Al-Shaar, 18, were shot in separate incidents “by live ammunition from the (Israeli) occupation forces”.
He later reported two more Palestinians had been shot dead, without immediately identifying them.
The Israeli army said some 20,000 ‘rioters’ had gathered at multiple sites along the border.
It said the protestors hurled “grenades and explosive devices in several different locations”.
It said troops were firing “in accordance with standard operating procedures” but did not go into specific cases.
Palestinians have been protesting at least weekly along the Gaza border since March. At least 191 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in that time, the majority during border protests.
Smaller numbers have been hit by airstrikes or tank fire.
The protests are demanding the right of Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to their homes, now in Israel.
Israel says any such mass return would mean the end of it as a Jewish state and accuses Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas of orchestrating the protests.