Eleven Palestinians Injured after Israeli Gunfire Near Border With Gaza

Israel will refuse to participate in any potential global probe into the IDF’s actions on the Gaza border Friday that led to the deaths of 16 Palestinians, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told Army Radio on Sunday morning.

“The killing of the peaceful Palestinian protesters is the last in the series of Israeli crimes carried out under the patronage of the U.S.”, he was quoted as saying in a Farsi report by Tasnim News Agency.

Clashes have been ongoing since Friday when tens of thousands of Palestinians began a six-week march near the fence to demand what they say is their right to return to the homes of their families in what is now called Israel. However, Hamas leaders have not said specifically that large crowds would attempt to tear down the fence. 17 protesters were killed on Friday in violent clashes during what Hamas had promised would be a non-violent demonstration.

“They were throwing stones, but the stones never even reached the fence”, said 28-year-old Alaa Abdul Nabi, another brother of the slain demonstrator.

The idea for the mass marches was first floated by a Gaza social media activist several months ago, and was later adopted by Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007.

The Israeli army alleges 10 of the dead had “documented terror backgrounds” in Hamas and other groups and were killed “whilst carrying out acts of terror”.

At least 50 people were injured on Sunday as Israeli forces shot at Palestinian protesters in the city of Jabalia and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

The military said some of those who were shot had fired at soldiers, rolled burning tyres and hurled rocks and fire bombs towards the border.

Ibrahim Fathi Hasna, 22, said he and another man who had wire cutters and a Molotov cocktail had managed to cut through a fence at a protest on Saturday to breach an Israeli-controlled area.

Manelis alleged that the video was fabricated, without elaborating.

In addition to the protesters shot dead, more than 400 people were wounded by live fire from Israeli soldiers on Friday. These events and activities do not and will not help, and they are pointless, Demand your rights from those who continue to oppress you rather than care about your problems, and who take what you deserve and your money for the goal of digging useless tunnels.

A Palestinian succumbed to his wounds in the Gaza Strip on Monday, taking to 18 the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire near border of the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Separately, Israeli defence authorities confirmed that Israel is holding the bodies of two alleged Hamas members. “On Friday we stopped at the border but next time we do not know where the border will be”.

She said she and other Palestinians had grown used to this over the years. In exchange, Israel will fully open up the crossing and work to economically rehabilitate Gaza so it can become another Singapore.

An Israeli military spokesman said Friday’s events were “not a protest demonstration” but “organized terrorist activity” by Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. The Great March of Return will continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the Nakba – “the disaster” – and the creation of the racist settler state of Israel.

Hamas will continue to challenge the IDF, especially on the border, to maintain global interest in the coastal enclave.