The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
One man dead and 500 hurt in border protest
Thousands of Palestinians protest at sealed border
Thousands of Palestinians have staged a mass protest along Gaza’s sealed border with Israel, some burning large Israeli flags and torching tyres while soldiers fired tear gas and live bullets.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said a 28-year-old Palestinian man was killed and more than 500 wounded, including scores hit by live Israeli army fire. The death brings to 28 the number of protesters killed in two weeks of border protests.
Officials said more than 400 suffered other injuries, including being hit by rubber-coated steel pellets and being overcome by tear gas.
Among those hurt was a Gaza journalist who was shot in the abdomen, the officials said.
Yesterday most of the demonstrators assembled in five-tent camps several hundred metres from the border fence. Smaller groups moved closer to the fence, throwing stones, torching tyres and burning Israeli flags.
Plumes of black smoke from burning tyres rose into the sky.
Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds.
The military said demonstrators hurled an explosive device and several firebombs near the fence in what it said was an apparent attempt to damage it.
Footage distributed by the military showed an area of the fence made up of several layers of barbed wire coils.
Protesters stuck a Palestinian flag in the fence and fixed a rope, using it to tug at the coils.
One man threw a burning tyre into the fence. Rights groups have branded the Israeli military’s open-fire regulations as unlawful, saying they permit soldiers to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.
Israel has accused Gaza’s Islamic militant Hamas rulers of using the protests as a cover for attacks and says snipers only target the main “instigators”.
Marches were organised by Hamas to protest against the 10-year Israeli blockade of Gaza.