Israel defiant over Gaza border killings
Israel has rejected international calls for an inquiry into the killing of 16 Palestinians by its soldiers during a mass protest on the Gaza border. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, rejected criticism from Turkey over the violence by likening it to an April Fool’s joke.
‘I think that all of our troops deserve a commendation, and there won’t be any inquiry’
ISRAEL yesterday rejected international calls for an inquiry into the killing of 16 Palestinians by Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border during a mass demonstration on Friday.
“We shall not cooperate with any commission of inquiry,” Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defence minister, told the country’s public radio, torpedoing entreaties by Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, and Federica Mogherini, the EU’S diplomatic chief, for an independent investigation into the deaths.
In addition to the 16 killed, Palestinian health officials said more than 700 people were injured in Friday’s violence, making it the most deadly day in Gaza since the end of the 2014 war.
On Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, accused Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, of being “a terrorist” after Mr Netanyahu rejected Ankara’s “moral lessons” over deadly clashes in Gaza.
“Hey, Netanyahu! You are occupier. And it is as an occupier that you are on those lands. At the same time, you are a terrorist,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Adana, southern Turkey.
However, Mr Netanyahu rejected Turkish criticism, likening it to an April Fool’s joke.
“The most moral army in the world will not be lectured to on morality from someone who for years has been bombing civilians indiscriminately,” he wrote on Twitter. “Apparently this is how they mark April 1 in Ankara.”
Close to 30,000 Palestinians demonstrated along the heavily militarised Israeli-gaza border on Friday after midday prayers.
Israeli troops opened fire on the crowds with live ammunition and rubber-coated steel pellets. Israeli military drones dropped tear gas on demonstrators. Video from the scene appears to show some unarmed protesters being shot. The Israeli military said incomplete, edited or “completely fabricated” videos were deliberately released by Hamas, the group sworn to Israel’s destruction.
Human rights groups and high-level international figures criticised Israel’s military for using too much force on demonstrators. But Mr Netanyahu praised the Israeli soldiers involved for “guarding the country’s borders”.
Mr Lieberman echoed his comments, saying the troops “did what had to be done”.
“I think that all of our troops deserve a commendation, and there won’t be any inquiry,” Mr Lieberman told Israeli Army Radio yesterday.
The protests, which were backed by Hamas, were touted as the start of a sixweek demonstration, set to culminate in a march on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding, which is mourned by Palestinians as “the Catastrophe” that led to hundreds of thousands of Arabs being displaced in 1948.