Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians in Gaza border protests - Gaza medics

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

 

A Palestinian demonstrator hurls stones at Israeli troops during clashes at a protest marking Land Day, near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank March 30, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

 

GAZA-ISRAEL BORDER (Reuters) - At least 16 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli security forces confronting one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border in recent years, Gaza medical officials said.

 

Tens of thousands of Palestinians, pressing for a right of return for refugees to what is now Israel, gathered along the fenced 65-km (40-mile) frontier where tents were erected for a planned six-week protest, local officials said. The Israeli military estimate was 30,000.

 

Families brought their children to the encampments just a few hundred metres from the Israeli security barrier with the Hamas Islamist-run enclave, and football fields were marked in the sand and scout bands played.

 

But as the day wore on, hundreds of Palestinian youths ignored calls from the organisers and the Israeli military to stay away from the frontier, where Israeli soldiers across the border kept watch from dirt mound embankments.

 

The military said its troops had used live fire only against people trying to sabotage the border security fence, some of them rolling burning tyres and throwing rocks, and that at least two of the dead were Hamas operatives.

 

Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces used mostly gunfire against the protesters, in addition to tear gas and rubber bullets. Witnesses said the military had deployed a drone over at least one location to drop tear gas.

 

One of the dead was aged 16 and at least 400 people were wounded by live gunfire, while others were struck by rubber bullets or treated for tear gas inhalation, Gaza health officials said.

 

Two Palestinians were killed by tank fire, the Gaza Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said the two were militants who had opened fire at troops across the border.

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that Israel was responsible for the violence and declared Saturday a national day of mourning.

 

The United Nations Security Council was due to meet later on Friday to discuss the situation in Gaza, diplomats said.

 

RIGHT OF RETURN

 

The protest presented a rare show of unity among rival Palestinian factions in the impoverished Gaza Strip, where pressure has been building on Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement to end a decade-old rift. Reconciliation efforts to end the feud have been faltering for months.

 

The demonstration was launched on "Land Day," an annual commemoration of the deaths of six Arab citizens of Israel killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over government land confiscations in northern Israel in 1976.

 

But its main focus was a demand that Palestinian refugees be allowed the right of return to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created in 1948.

 

In a statement, the Israeli military accused Hamas of "cynically exploiting women and children, sending them to the security fence and endangering their lives".

 

The military said that more than 100 army sharpshooters had been deployed in the area.

 

Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction, had earlier urged protesters to adhere to the "peaceful nature" of the protest.

 

Israel has long ruled out any right of return, fearing an influx of Arabs that would wipe out its Jewish majority. It argues that refugees should resettle in a future state the Palestinians seek in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. Peace talks to that end collapsed in 2014.

 

There were also small protests in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and about 65 Palestinians were injured.

 

In Gaza, the protest was dubbed "The March of Return" and some of the tents bore names of the refugees' original villages in what is now Israel, written in Arabic and Hebrew alike.

 

Citing security concerns, Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, blockades the coastal territory, maintaining tight restrictions on the movement of Palestinians and goods across the frontier. Egypt, battling an Islamist insurgency in neighbouring Sinai, keeps its border with Gaza largely closed.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-31

These group of people have been butting their collective heads against a concrete walls for generations now for some unattainable goal that they will never ever achieve,

all the while the Palestinian leadership see nothing wrong in sending kids as young as 7 years old girl to die and doesn't blink and eye when couple of dozens of young people die for nothing, and at the same time continuing to teach hatred loathing and disdain at the world blaming Israel and Egypt for their shortcoming....

Edited March 30, 20188 yr by ezzra

Both equally guilty in situations like these. Doom to fail. 

 

Nothing will work in this region.

12 minutes ago, ezzra said:

These group of people have been butting their collective heads against a concrete walls for generations now for some unattainable goal that they will never ever achieve,

all the while the Palestinian leadership see nothing wrong in sending kids as young as 7 years old girl to die and doesn't blink and eye when couple of dozens of young people die for nothing, and at the same time continuing to teach hatred loathing and disdain at the world blaming Israel and Egypt for their shortcoming....

Imagine that, "unattainable goal that they will never ever achieve," as opposed to unattainable goals they could achieve .  and doing it all for nothing!

 

16 dead and at least 400 wounded.....

Only the brave Israeli Army would use live ammunition against unarmed civilians

And as usual they will act with impunity......No doubt the coming investigation will show....they were provoked....

And of course the Jewish lobby here will soon come around trying to justify their actions....

Shame on you Israel....!!

A comment on moderation has been removed.   Continue and face a suspension.

 

I see posted at same time

 

Will say as to this topic this situation is a complete mess

That Israel will claim they are only shooting live at those who

are trying to sabotage the border security fence

 

Then go & shoot 400 is beyond over the top

 

Edited March 30, 20188 yr by meechai

I have never understood why anyone or any group would think that when you have a group with guns that they won't use them.   

 

I've been in the ME and stopped by police.   The one with the gun gets my full and undivided attention....and cooperation.

 

2 minutes ago, Credo said:

I have never understood why anyone or any group would think that when you have a group with guns that they won't use them.   

 

I've been in the ME and stopped by police.   The one with the gun gets my full and undivided attention....and cooperation.

 

Your probably right but we must remember only one side gets guns/$$  free from the US

 

Would be better if the US did not arm these types

Or would be fair if some other country were nice enough to equally arm

the Palestinians

 

Then both groups would have guns. Problem solved?

 

 

Imagine the reaction in the UK, or the US, if 14 rioters were killed and 400 wounded by gunfire; just saying. I exclude the two armed Hamas guys cos deadly force v. someone shooting at you is obviously justified.

12 minutes ago, nausea said:

Imagine the reaction in the UK, or the US, if 14 rioters were killed and 400 wounded by gunfire; just saying. I exclude the two armed Hamas guys cos deadly force v. someone shooting at you is obviously justified.

15 people were killed in the LA riots and over 2,000 injured.   

I have little sympathy for the Palestinian people.
They have had countless amounts of money flung at them thro the years..but always resort to VIOLENCE.
Perhaps if the people rose up against hamas and got rid of them..a peaceful solution could be reached.



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1 hour ago, JOC said:

16 dead and at least 400 wounded.....

Only the brave Israeli Army would use live ammunition against unarmed civilians

And as usual they will act with impunity......No doubt the coming investigation will show....they were provoked....

And of course the Jewish lobby here will soon come around trying to justify their actions....

Shame on you Israel....!!

I be happy to send you any number of yesterday's pictures showing the palestinians bearing arm and use them, beside, this was supposed to be a 'peaceful march' so much for that huh?....

1 hour ago, meechai said:

Your probably right but we must remember only one side gets guns/$$  free from the US

 

Would be better if the US did not arm these types

Or would be fair if some other country were nice enough to equally arm

the Palestinians

 

Then both groups would have guns. Problem solved?

 

 

Israel is among the top 10 weapons exporters in the world, while they still

buy jet fighters and ultra sophisticated weapons from the US, Israel

manufacturing all it's needs and than some....

2 hours ago, Credo said:

I have never understood why anyone or any group would think that when you have a group with guns that they won't use them.   

 

I've been in the ME and stopped by police.   The one with the gun gets my full and undivided attention....and cooperation.

 

Just goes to show how brave the Palestinians are to resist unarmed against the war crime of ethnic cleansing. While the fully protected and heavily armed IDF snipers of the supposedly most moral army in the world from behind a steel fence and entrenched positions fire live ammunition to murder in cold blood with impunity those they consider ring leaders. Israel has one of the most evil regimes in the world today. The ironies of history are astounding.

2 hours ago, JOC said:

16 dead and at least 400 wounded.....

Only the brave Israeli Army would use live ammunition against unarmed civilians

And as usual they will act with impunity......No doubt the coming investigation will show....they were provoked....

And of course the Jewish lobby here will soon come around trying to justify their actions....

Shame on you Israel....!!

 

Even the Palestinians acknowledge some of those shot were armed, with some even shooting at the IDF. Two of the casualties, by the way, relate to a separate incident in the early hours before the protest commenced and at a different location.

1 hour ago, malagateddy said:

I have little sympathy for the Palestinian people.
They have had countless amounts of money flung at them thro the years..but always resort to VIOLENCE.
Perhaps if the people rose up against hamas and got rid of them..a peaceful solution could be reached.



Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Maybe you should learn a bit more about the history of the conflict.

Maybe Israel should give back all the land they have stolen from the majority indigenous Palestinian people for a peaceful solution.

 

70% of the Palestinians you see being fired at by the cowardly IDF were either born or had parents or grandparents who were born in what is now Israel. They were ethnically cleansed by mainly European colonizers, the parents and grandparents of the psychopathic Israelis firing at them. All the Palestinians want in this demonstration is the right to go home.. a right enshrined in the Geneva Convention. Israel's refusal to allow that is a war crime.

2 hours ago, meechai said:

Your probably right but we must remember only one side gets guns/$$  free from the US

 

Would be better if the US did not arm these types

Or would be fair if some other country were nice enough to equally arm

the Palestinians

 

Then both groups would have guns. Problem solved?

 

 

 

Such a hypothetical situation would likely result in even more casualties. Guess that works for some.

59 minutes ago, ezzra said:

I be happy to send you any number of yesterday's pictures showing the palestinians bearing arm and use them, beside, this was supposed to be a 'peaceful march' so much for that huh?....

 

You can just post them pics here.

1 minute ago, Morch said:

 

Even the Palestinians acknowledge some of those shot were armed, with some even shooting at the IDF. Two of the casualties, by the way, relate to a separate incident in the early hours before the protest commenced and at a different location.

Yes, one murdered was a 27 year old Palestinian farmer picking parsley in his fields early morning to get it to market fresh. The brave IDF thought this suspicious so they fired an artillery shell at him.

20 minutes ago, dexterm said:

Just goes to show how brave the Palestinians are to resist unarmed against the war crime of ethnic cleansing. While the fully protected and heavily armed IDF snipers of the supposedly most moral army in the world from behind a steel fence and entrenched positions fire live ammunition to murder in cold blood with impunity those they consider ring leaders. Israel has one of the most evil regimes in the world today. The ironies of history are astounding.

 

Captain hyperbole charges in...

 

Israel is "one of the most evil regimes in the world" only for those lacking any sense of proportion, or those so bent on their propaganda angle that they can't notice the nonsense they post.

 

Doubt that you'll have a whole lot to say about the morality of sending kids out to the front lines, or bringing them along for the event.

 

Also expected that you'll ignore any instance in which Palestinians shot were armed or the protest, on the whole not being "peaceful" as advertised. Looking at them pics, not much of a "steel fence" there, but why ruin a perfectly good image, eh?

 

Edited March 31, 20188 yr by Morch

3 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Both equally guilty in situations like these. Doom to fail. 

Nothing will work in this region.

Israel has no "gult" whatsoever. These peopel were   engaged in a hostile attack, attempting to breach a legal border. The area that they were attacking is undisputed Israeli  territory.

Naming me one country that will tolerate an mass attack on its border from a hostile location?

 

2 hours ago, JOC said:

16 dead and at least 400 wounded.....

Only the brave Israeli Army would use live ammunition against unarmed civilians

And as usual they will act with impunity......No doubt the coming investigation will show....they were provoked....

And of course the Jewish lobby here will soon come around trying to justify their actions....

Shame on you Israel....!!

Do you honestly believe that these atackers were attempting to enter Israel with the intent of spreading love and good cheer? Their intent was to . cause  harm, to . kill, to inflict damage. The Israelis had every legal and moral right to defend themselves. 

 

 

2 hours ago, meechai said:

I see posted at same time

 

Will say as to this topic this situation is a complete mess

That Israel will claim they are only shooting live at those who

are trying to sabotage the border security fence

 

Then go & shoot 400 is beyond over the top

 

These people engaged in an act of violence, a continuation of the Hamas pledge to kill evry jew in Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself. The guilty are those who encourage this.

 

1 hour ago, nausea said:

Imagine the reaction in the UK, or the US, if 14 rioters were killed and 400 wounded by gunfire; just saying. I exclude the two armed Hamas guys cos deadly force v. someone shooting at you is obviously justified.

The UK isn't under attack from a group of foreign savages who would murder anyone they set their  hands upon. If thousands of armed and violent arabs descended upon the UK, I can assure you that the police would shoot with the intent to kill.

9 minutes ago, dexterm said:

Maybe you should learn a bit more about the history of the conflict.

Maybe Israel should give back all the land they have stolen from the majority indigenous Palestinian people for a peaceful solution.

 

70% of the Palestinians you see being fired at by the cowardly IDF were either born or had parents or grandparents who were born in what is now Israel. They were ethnically cleansed by mainly European colonizers, the parents and grandparents of the psychopathic Israelis firing at them. All the Palestinians want in this demonstration is the right to go home.. a right enshrined in the Geneva Convention. Israel's refusal to allow that is a war crime.

 

Maybe you should stop posting nonsense, but little hope of that.

 

Israel is not about to commit national suicide to satisfy your warped take on history, or the extreme political views you represent. All your waffle ignores that there were wars - not necessarily initiated by Israel, and that the Palestinians (and their Arab allies) lost. Coming to terms with that is a painful process, not aided much by hate mongers such as yourself.

 

Israel is not obligated to let all them Palestinian enter it's borders, nor return their supposed lands. That's your interpretation, rather than fact. There are realistic way of addressing such issues, sadly, you intentionally go for the inflammatory versions. Wouldn't call it unexpected...

23 minutes ago, dexterm said:

Just goes to show how brave the Palestinians are to resist unarmed against the war crime of ethnic cleansing. While the fully protected and heavily armed IDF snipers of the supposedly most moral army in the world from behind a steel fence and entrenched positions fire live ammunition to murder in cold blood with impunity those they consider ring leaders. Israel has one of the most evil regimes in the world today. The ironies of history are astounding.

There is no ethnic cleansing. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist group which refuses to hold an election. Hamas is sworn to the murder of all jews in Israel. Israel is not ethnic cleansing in Gaza, although Hamas has been murdering those who oppose its views. You hate Israel we know, but why must you lie? Why not just say that you hate the country, the people, the  freedoms  and  advanced society. Have the courage to say that you embrace the  extreme violent views of Hamas and the denial of civil rights and its policy of the murder of all jews everywhere. Israel has done nothing wrong despite your blood libel.

11 minutes ago, dexterm said:

Yes, one murdered was a 27 year old Palestinian farmer picking parsley in his fields early morning to get it to market fresh. The brave IDF thought this suspicious so they fired an artillery shell at him.

 

That's the version you choose to put forth, not necessarily fact. Another one would be that there were at least two of them, near the fence, and it being nighttime - not very likely that they were picking parsley. Once more in with supposedly "indisputable facts".

16 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Captain hyperbole charges in...

 

Israel is "one of the most evil regimes in the world" only for those lacking any sense of proportion, or those so bent on their propaganda angle that they can't notice the nonsense they post.

 

Doubt that you'll have a whole lot to say about the morality of sending kids out to the front lines, or bringing them along for the event.

 

Also expected that you'll ignore any instance in which Palestinians shot were armed or the protest, on the whole not being "peaceful" as advertised. Looking at them pics, not much of a "steel fence" there, but why ruin a perfectly good image, eh?

 

The usual denigratory preamble. I must be hitting the raw nerve of truth if that's all you've got. Thanks.

 

The Zionist narrative always has to be soooo perfect. 100 heavily armed IDF snipers in position days before the march began murder over a dozen Palestinians without a scratch on them. And your only excuse is "Now look what you made those poor victim IDF do."

 

I don't know how your conscience allows you to defend this evil regime.

Alright, a bit of reprieve from some of the routine propaganda nonsense....

 

The Israeli response is undoubtedly heavy-handed. There maybe could have been better non-lethal ways of dealing with the Palestinian protestors - I don't know that this is the case, or that the conditions make such means effective. What I am sure of, is that if protestors were allowed a violent charge on the fence, the resulting casualties would be way higher.

 

IMO, the Palestinians are just doing the same routine again - which is disheartening considering the potential for change. Instead of going for a truly non-violent protest, seat in, march on the fence - it all reverted back to usual form. While it still gets media attention, it's not halfway as effective as the alternative. Israel would have a much harder time defending its actions had the Palestinian been a bit smarter about it. As it stands, this protest represents a sort of compromise between factions, some of which are hardliners and need the "action". Then again, there's the Palestinian culture, mentality and social norms, which do not seat well with passive resistance.

 

Other than the political propaganda nonsense and rehashing partisan dramatic general comments about the conflict - what would be an effective, and less lethal response to such mass protests which carry the potential to go south at any moment?

23 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

There is no ethnic cleansing. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist group which refuses to hold an election. Hamas is sworn to the murder of all jews in Israel. Israel is not ethnic cleansing in Gaza, although Hamas has been murdering those who oppose its views. You hate Israel we know, but why must you lie? Why not just say that you hate the country, the people, the  freedoms  and  advanced society. Have the courage to say that you embrace the  extreme violent views of Hamas and the denial of civil rights and its policy of the murder of all jews everywhere. Israel has done nothing wrong despite your blood libel.

Learn to read more carefully and research the history of the conflict.

 

70% of the population in Gaza have parents or grandparents or they themselves were born in what is now Israel and were ethnically cleansed to Gaza in 1948. The Israeli soldiers firing at them have parents or grandparents who were not born in Israel. The Palestinians simply want to go home.

 

It's a clear cut case of mainly European colonialism and a minority apartheid regime trying to maintain its Jewish supremacy over a majority Palestinian population..

 

8 minutes ago, dexterm said:

The usual denigratory preamble. I must be hitting the raw nerve of truth if that's all you've got. Thanks.

 

The Zionist narrative always has to be soooo perfect. 100 heavily armed IDF snipers in position days before the march began murder over a dozen Palestinians without a scratch on them. And your only excuse is "Now look what you made those poor victim IDF do."

 

I don't know how your conscience allows you to defend this evil regime.

 

You post hyperbole, it gets called out. Nothing derogatory about it, no nerves hit by your nonsense.

 

Going on about "perfect narrative" is quite disingenuous, coming from someone routinely refusing to address and acknowledge anything which might present the Palestinians in a less than positive light.

 

And as for your narrative - there was no uniform claim that the Israel's actions were alright. As for the nonsense about IDF troops being there "days before the march began" - there are always troops  deployed there, as is generally known. That additional units, specifically snipers, were deployed beforehand is a good thing - unless one was hoping for even more bloodshed (as would have happened if regular units were on the scene). That you claim "murder" is just another loaded term pushed to the discussion. IDF soldiers are not obligated to get hurt in order to satisfy your warped sense of "balance" - as said, some are more interested in bloodshed then anything.

 

And, of course, making up quotes of something which wasn't said nor included in my posts is just the usual dishonest way you conduct yourself on these topics (""Now look what you made those poor victim IDF do.").

 

Spare me your pathetic moralizing. I'm not the one exploiting each and every bloody incident to further an extreme adopted political stance.

Tell me why the peaceful palestinians do not rise up against a terrorist entity like hamas

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