A 28-year-old Palestinian was killed and more than 200 others wounded during clashes with Israeli troops as some 10,000 Gazans gathered in protest along the border with Israel on Friday, Gaza officials said. The turnout was significantly lower than on previous Fridays, when between 20,000 and 40,000 Palestinians took part in the riots, raising questions about the organizers' goal of keeping the mass marches going until mid-May.
A senior Hamas official told Israel Hayom the organization was disappointed by the low turnout at Friday's protest in particular as they would mark Palestinian Prisoners' Day on April 17. He said he hoped "many more protesters would come to the protests in Gaza and the [West] Bank."
Palestinians on Friday hurled stones and burning tires and large Israeli and U.S. flags, as well as posters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and U.S. President Donald Trump near the frontier fence, where Israel Defense Forces sharpshooters are deployed. Some in the crowd threw firebombs and an explosive device and tried cross into Israel, according to the Israeli military.
An IDF spokesman said troops were being confronted by rioters and responded "with riot dispersal means while also firing in accordance with the rules of engagement."
Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds. IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that Palestinians repeatedly tried to damage the border fence, throwing several explosives and firebombs at it.
In all, more than 30 Palestinians were killed in the past two weeks, 10 of whom the IDF has identified as known terrorists.
The IDF has argued that Gaza terrorist groups are trying to turn the border area into a combat zone, and said it has a right to defend its sovereign border and stop protesters from getting past the fence.
"Israel will continue to defend its borders and its citizens. Your country would do the same," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Twitter.
Conricus said Friday that the military is trying to minimize Palestinian casualties, but hadn't changed open-fire regulations.
Israel has declared a no-go zone close to the Gaza border fence.
The Israeli government accuses Hamas, the Islamic terrorist movement that has ruled Gaza since Israeli soldiers and settlers withdrew in 2005, of having instigated the protests and of using them as a cover to launch attacks.
The Israeli military has displayed video footage in which the frontier fence is seen being cut and breached during the recent clashes, with explosives planted there to target its troops. Protesters are also seen sticking a Palestinian flag into the fence and affixing a rope, using it to tug at the coils. One man is seen throwing a burning tire at the fence, while another was seen walking nearby with the help of a crutch. At one camp east of Gaza City, youths carried on their shoulders a coffin wrapped in an Israeli flag bearing the words "The End of Israel."
Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel's centrist Yesh Atid party, called Hamas a "despicable terror organization" and accused it of exploiting civilians. He said the Israeli military is "operating against it [Hamas] with determination and according to international law."
Human rights groups say the Israeli military has used live fire against demonstrators who pose no immediate threat to life.
Israel has accused Gaza's Hamas rulers of using the protests as a cover for attacks and says snipers only target the main "instigators.
The left-wing human rights group B'Tselem said Friday that the open-fire policy must not be dictated by worst-case scenarios, such as a feared mass breach of the border. "An order to open live fire at unarmed protesters is manifestly unlawful," it said.
Another human rights organization, Breaking the Silence, published a statement by five former snipers in the Israeli military who said they were "filled with shame and sorrow" over the recent incidents in Gaza.
"Instructing snipers to shoot to kill unarmed demonstrators who pose no danger to human life, is another product of the occupation and military rule over millions of Palestinian people, as well as of our country's callous leadership and derailed moral path," the statement said.
The group has been criticized in Israel for publishing often anonymous testimonies by current or former Israeli soldiers who have misgivings about their military service and treatment of Palestinians.
