Seven Palestinians Killed in Gaza Border Clash

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Palestinian protesters reacting to tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers during a protest at Gaza’s border with Israel.CreditCreditKhalil Hamra/Associated Press

By Reuters

Sept. 28, 2018

GAZA — Israeli soldiers fatally shot seven Palestinians, including two boys, who were among thousands of people who thronged to the fortified Gaza border on Friday as part of weekly protests begun six months ago, Gaza health officials said.

Israel’s military said its troops resorted to live fire and an airstrike in response to explosive devices and rocks launched at them and to prevent breaches of the border fence from Gaza, a Hamas-controlled enclave.

Gaza health officials said 505 people were wounded. They identified the dead as males, two of them ages 12 and 14.

About 200 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza protests began on March 30 to demand the right of return to lands that Palestinian families fled or were driven from on Israel’s founding in 1948, and the easing of an Israeli-Egyptian economic blockade.

Hamas said Friday’s protest also marked the 18th anniversary of the last Palestinian revolt against Israel.

A Gaza sniper killed an Israeli soldier in an earlier protest, and Palestinians have used kites and helium balloons to fly incendiary devices over the border fence, destroying tracts of forest and farmland in Israel.

Israel accuses Hamas, against which it has fought three wars in the last decade, of having deliberately provoked violence in the protests, a charge Hamas denies.