Gaza-Israel border - At least 16
Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured on Friday by
Israeli security forces confronting one of the largest
Palestinian demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border in
recent years, Gaza medical officials said.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians, pressing for a right of
return for refugees to what is now Israel, gathered along the
fenced 65-km (40-mile) frontier where tents were erected for a
planned six-week protest, local officials said. The Israeli
military estimate was 30,000.
The United Nations Security Council was briefed on the
violence in Gaza on Friday at the request of Kuwait. Palestinian
UN envoy Riyad Mansour told the council at least 17
Palestinian civilians were killed and more than 1,400 injured.
Families brought their children to the encampments just a
few hundred metres from the Israeli security barrier
with the Hamas Islamist-run enclave, and football fields were
marked in the sand and scout bands played.
Palestinians take part in a protest along the Israel border with Gaza, demanding the right to return to their homeland, on the 42nd Anniversary of the Palestinian Land Day, in Gaza City. Picture: Wissam Nassar/AP
But as the day wore on, hundreds of Palestinian youths
ignored calls from the organisers and the Israeli military to
stay away from the frontier, where Israeli soldiers across the
border kept watch from dirt mound embankments.
The military said its troops had used live fire only against
people trying to sabotage the border security fence, some of
them rolling burning tyres and throwing rocks, and that at least
two of the dead were Hamas operatives.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces used mostly
gunfire against the protesters, in addition to tear gas and
rubber bullets. Witnesses said the military had deployed a drone
over at least one location to drop tear gas.
One of the dead was aged 16 and at least 400 people were
wounded by live gunfire, while others were struck by rubber
bullets or treated for tear gas inhalation, Gaza health
officials said.
Two Palestinians were killed by tank fire, the Gaza Health
Ministry said. The Israeli military said the two were militants
who had opened fire at troops across the border.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that
Israel was responsible for the violence and declared Saturday a
national day of mourning.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an
independent, transparent investigation and appealed "to those
concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further
casualties and in particular any measures that could place
civilians in harm's way," his spokesman said in a statement.
A senior UN official told the UN Security Council there
are fears the situation in Gaza "might deteriorate in the coming
days."
The United States, a close Israel ally, told the council it
was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life.
"We urge those involved to take steps to lower tensions and
reduce the risk of new clashes. Bad actors who use protests as a
cover to incite violence endanger innocent lives," U.S. diplomat
Walter said.
RIGHT OF RETURN
The protest presented a rare show of unity among rival
Palestinian factions in the impoverished Gaza Strip, where
pressure has been building on Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement
to end a decade-old rift. Reconciliation efforts to end the feud
have been faltering for months.
The demonstration was launched on "Land Day," an annual
commemoration of the deaths of six Arab citizens of Israel
killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over
government land confiscations in northern Israel in 1976.
But its main focus was a demand that Palestinian refugees be
allowed the right of return to towns and villages which their
families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of
Israel was created in 1948.
In a statement, the Israeli military accused Hamas of
"cynically exploiting women and children, sending them to the
security fence and endangering their lives".
The military said that more than 100 army sharpshooters had
been deployed in the area.
Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction, had earlier urged
protesters to adhere to the "peaceful nature" of the protest.
Israel has long ruled out any right of return, fearing an
influx of Arabs that would wipe out its Jewish majority. It
argues that refugees should resettle in a future state the
Palestinians seek in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Peace talks to that end collapsed in 2014.
There were also small protests in the Israeli-occupied West
Bank, and about 65 Palestinians were injured.
In Gaza, the protest was dubbed "The March of Return" and
some of the tents bore names of the refugees' original villages
in what is now Israel, written in Arabic and Hebrew alike.
Citing security concerns, Israel, which withdrew troops and
settlers from Gaza in 2005, blockades the coastal territory,
maintaining tight restrictions on the movement of Palestinians
and goods across the frontier. Egypt, battling an Islamist
insurgency in neighbouring Sinai, keeps its border with Gaza
largely closed.