1 dead, 176 hurt in latest protest at Israeli border
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops fired live bullets and tear gas Friday across a border fence into Gaza where Palestinian protesters threw stones, burned tires and flew kites with burning rags attached. One protester was killed and 176 were wounded by Israeli fire, Gaza health officials said.
It was the seventh weekly protest aimed at shaking off a decade-old border blockade of Gaza, and a preview of what is expected to be a much larger border rally on Monday. On that day, protests are timed to coincide with the planned move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to establish a future capital.
Protester Ahmed Deifallah, 25, said that President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy there “is causing the volcano to spew.”
Deifallah, who is unemployed, said he is not afraid to die. “We are used to confronting the (Israeli) occupation with our bare chests,” he said, a Palestinian flag draped around his head.
Gaza’s Hamas leader, Yehiyeh Sinwawr, has said he expects tens of thousands to participate on Monday. He has raised the possibility of a mass border breach, comparing protesters to a “starving tiger,” unpredictable and full of pentup anger.
Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking the border.
Since the Hamas-led marches began in late March, 41 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli fire, More than 1,800 Palestinians have been shot and wounded.
The protests, driven by despair among Gaza’s 2 million people, are part of a campaign to break the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.