Israeli forces kill 4 Palestinians in Gaza border protests
April 20, 2018
The death toll from recent protests has risen to at least 39 after four more Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces. After four weeks of protests nearly 1,600 Palestinians have been wounded.
Image: Getty Images/S. Khatib
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Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians protesting on the Gaza-Israel border fence Friday as rolling weekly protests entered their fourth week.
Palestinian health officials said 156 Palestinians were also wounded by Israeli gunfire, bring the total number of wounded in the past month to more than 1,600.
Among those killed by Israeli snipers Friday was a 15-year-old boy.
UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov called the shooting of the child "outrageous."
Palestinian organizers have called the weekly Friday protests the "Great March of Return" beginning on Land Day, March 30, and continuing until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the "Nakba" - or the "catastrophe" - when 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes and off their land by Israeli forces in 1948.
The demonstrators have been calling for Israeli security forces to open up the Gaza-Israel border in order to allow Palestinian refugees the right to return to their former lands that are now in Israel. The protests are also aimed showing frustration of 2 million Gazans cramped into the narrow strip of land where a humanitarian crisis in unfolding.
US President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, scheduled for May 15, have also stirred Palestinian anger.
Israel has vowed to put an end to attacks and attempts to damage the border fence. It has also accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover to commit acts of violence.
How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year
The origin of conflicts in the region could be dated back centuries but this year has seen some key events leading to an escalation in the tension between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.
Image: Reuters/A. Cohen
Palestinian PM Rami Hamdallah targeted
The convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah of the West Bank-based Fatah group was targeted as he made a rare visit to Gaza on March 13. The Palestinian Authority said it held Hamas responsible, having failed to provide adequate security. Hamas claimed the attack was aimed at hurting efforts to achieve unity and reconciliation.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
Land Day march
Some 30,000 Palestinians took part in the first of the demonstrations on March 30, marking Land Day, named for the 1976 Arab protests against Israeli plans to expropriate land. Some demonstrators ran at the border fence and 16 were killed by Israeli troops with others injured, and some dying later.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Hams
Netanyahu: 'We will hurt them'
Speaking on April 9 in the Israeli town of Sderot, near Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it constantly: If someone tries to attack you — rise up and attack him. We will not allow, here on the Gaza border, them to hurt us. We will hurt them."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Tibbon
Protesters injured
Palestinians ran to help a young man injured during the border protest on April 13. Stones had been thrown at border guards and the Israeli troops fired on the demonstrators. Some 45 Palestinians died and hundreds were injured between March 30 and April 27.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Hams
Boy killed on April 20
Protest continued on April 20th, with some Palestinian protesters using kites to transport Molotov cocktails and firebombs over the fence. Israeli snipers killed at least four more Palestinians on April 20th, including a 15-year-old boy. The UN Middle East envoy dubbed the killing "outrageous."
Image: Getty Images/S. Khatib
May 15: US Embassy officially moved to Jerusalem from Tel-Aviv
US President Donald Trump's daugher Ivanka is part of the delegation that opened the new US Embassy in Jerusalem. The transfer of the embassy triggered a fresh wave of protests in which 62 people were killed. The deaths have considerably heightened tensions in the area.
Image: Reuters/R. Zvulun
US no longer seen as partner in Middle East negotiations
As the US celebrated its embassy move from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, Palestinian protests escalated. The events coincided with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of modern-day Israel, and Nakba Day, when Palestinians recall those who fled or were expelled as Israel was established.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
More than 60 people were killed in protests
Palestinians carried away a protester injured on May 15th after demonstrations marking the 70th anniversary of Nakba.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Khatib
Palestinian youths run from tear gas
Hamas official Salah al-Bardaweel said on Palestinian television that all but 12 of the dead were members of Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization is planning to pursue a war crimes complaint against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
Image: Reuters/I. Abu Mustafa
Israeli airstrikes pound Hamas military targets in Gaza
Following an increase in cross-border violence in mid-July, Israel pounded Hamas military targets in Gaza, while Palestinian militants fired more than 170 rockets and mortars into Israel. Two Palestinian boys, aged 15 and 16, were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to Gaza's health ministry. Three Israelis were injured after a rocket landed on a residential home in the Israeli city of Sderot.
Image: picture-alliance/newscom/I. Mohamad
Israel temporarily closes its Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip
Days later, Israel blocked all fuel and gas transfers through the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip for six days "in light of the continued terrorist attempts of Hamas." Israel's defense ministry said essential food and medicine deliveries would still get through. The crossing had been shuttered to commercial trade a week earlier.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/K. Omar
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The top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Friday that protesters would try to breach the border on May 15.
"Our people will outnumber the occupation and force it from our land," he said, referring to Israel.
Earlier in the day, Israeli military planes dropped leaflets on Gaza urging Palestinians to stay away from the fence, warning that getting close to the border fence would put their lives in danger.
Despite the warning, protesters gathered at sit-in camps along the border, burning effigies of Israeli soldiers. Protesters used catapults, threw stones and burned tires as a smoke screen.
On previous Fridays, some demonstrators have strayed closer to the border, throwing stones, Molotov cocktails and burning tires at the fence. They have also begun using kites, sometimes on fire, to fly across the border.
The Gaza protests have put international pressure on Israel over its harsh response.
Separately, Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman said she would not be heading to Israel to accept $1 million (€1.23 million) prize because of "distressing" events in the country.
The Genesis Prize Foundation quoted Portman's represenative as saying: "Recent events in Israel
have been extremely distressing to her and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel."
The renewed clashes came one day after Israel marked the 70th anniversary of its founding, with the military displays that are a routine part of the annual celebrations.
