Urged on by a Hamas leader who told them not to fear death but to welcome martyrdom, hundreds of Palestinian protesters stormed the Gaza security barrier and tried to cross into Israel on Friday.
Israeli troops responded with lethal force, killing at least several people and wounding hundreds, according to Gaza health officials.
The protest was the fifth in a series of weekly demonstrations billed as the Great Return March, meant to highlight the decade-old Israeli blockade of the impoverished coastal enclave as well as to rekindle international sympathy for Palestinian refugees’ claim of a right to return to what is now Israel. At least 40 demonstrators were killed in the first four weekly protests.
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As of Friday evening, the Gaza health ministry said three people had been killed, all of them shot in the head. About 350 others had been wounded, 75 of them by live ammunition, the ministry said.
At least some of the casualties occurred when two Palestinians approached the fence with handguns, according to four witnesses, and one fired at least seven rounds at Israeli soldiers before the two fled.
Source: The New York Times
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