55 dead in Gaza, as US opens embassy in J’lem
40,000 take part in border fence protests • IAF strikes Hamas positions • 35 blazes set by incendiary kites
More than 50 Palestinians were killed and thousands wounded as Gazans clashed with IDF forces all along the Gaza-Israel border fence on Monday.
It was the highest Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip by Israeli fire since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said 55 Palestinians were killed by IDF fire, including several teenagers, and 2,400 others were wounded, many by tear gas, with 116 in serious or critical condition.
Gazans have been protesting along the border with Israel for the past six weeks as part of what organizers have called the “Great March of Return.” But the mass protests on Monday were “unprecedented,” according to IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis.
Some 40,000 Palestinians took part in violent demonstrations at 12 different locations along the fence, throwing stones, explosive devices and Molotov cocktails at the fence and IDF troops, as well as burning tires and launching burning objects such as kites with charcoal or containers of burning fuel with the intention of setting fires in Israeli fields, the IDF said.
At least 35 fires were extinguished over the course of the day by firefighting teams deployed to the area. More than 4,000 dunams of agricultural fields have been burned by such devices in the past month, an official from the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund told The Jerusalem Post.
Early on Monday, an IDF quadcopter, a drone with four rotors, was shot down near Jabalya, in the northern Gaza Strip, leading the IDF to fire gas grenades and warning shots at protesters.
Amnesty International said the IDF response was deplorable.
“This is another horrific example of the Israeli military using excessive force and live ammunition in a totally deplorable way,” said Philip Luther, its research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa. “This is a violation of international standards, in some instances committing what appear to be willful killings constituting war crimes.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein took to Twitter to condemn the “shocking” deaths, writing that “those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The international community needs to ensure justice for victims.”
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The UN Security Council is expected to convene an emergency meeting on Tuesday
over the violence following a request by Kuwait.
“The policy of Israeli authorities to fire irrespective of whether there is an immediate threat to life on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, caged in for a decade and under occupation for a half century, has resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have foreseen,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division.
According to the IDF, while the number of protesters was higher than in previous weeks, “it wasn’t as high as Hamas had hoped for, which is why the organization raised its level of violence.”
“Hamas placed many women at the front in an effort to make it difficult for us to deal with terror targets. This is the most significant level of violence we have seen since the start of the protests,” the IDF said, adding that despite intelligence that Hamas planned to breach the border fence en masse, that had yet to happen.
Hadashot TV news quoted Israeli security officials as warning Hamas via Egypt that if there were violent clashes along the border, Israel would resume the targeted killing of the group’s leaders, saying: “If the protests continue, the assassinations will return.”
Soldiers, including snipers, used tear gas and live fire to keep the thousands of protesters away from the fence. Intense gunfire was heard a few times close to areas where Gazans were demonstrating.
Late Monday afternoon, IDF fighter jets struck five Hamas targets in a training camp in Jabalya following two attempts to plant explosive devices on the border fence near Rafah and Khan Yunis and gunfire toward soldiers near Jabalya.
In all three incidents, soldiers fired toward them, killing the Gazans who tried to plant the explosive devices in the Rafah area, the IDF said.
“The IDF will not allow damage to the infrastructure of the security fence and will act in a determined manner to defend and secure the citizens of Israel and its sovereignty,” the IDF said in a statement.
IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot held a situational assessment with Southern Command Commander Maj.Gen. Eyal Zamir, Gaza Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Yehuda Fuchs and other commanders regarding the army’s ongoing operational activity.
Thousands of soldiers from 11 battalions, including from the Nahal and Givati brigades, special forces, intelligence-gathering units, the Armored Corps and snipers, and drones have been deployed to reinforce the troops already in the area. The training of regular combat troops has been put on hold to focus on the violent disturbances.
The IDF accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to carry out terrorist attacks. On Sunday, its said it had identified protesters’ intentions to burn engineering tools belonging to the army, damage security infrastructures on the fence, including pillboxes, as well as attempts to kidnap soldiers under the guise of the protests.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the violence saying that “every nation has the right to defend its borders. Hamas clearly says its intentions are to destroy Israel and sends thousands to break through the border for that end. We will continue to act with resolve to defend our sovereignty and our citizens.”
Adam Rasgon contributed to this report. •