6 Palestinians killed, hundreds hurt as Gaza border protest turns violent

Large crowds of flag-waving Palestinian protesters marched toward the Gaza border fence with Israel on Friday, some of them throwing stones and drawing Israeli fire that Gaza officials said killed at least six people.

The Palestinian Health Ministry also said 500 Palestinians were hurt by live fire and rubber-coated steel pellets or overcome by tear gas fired by Israeli forces at several locations along the fence. The ministry did not provide the breakdown.

The protests had begun as mass sit-ins organized by Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers, but quickly spun out of control.

Israel's military said thousands of Palestinians rolled burning tires and threw stones at forces stationed on the border, and that troops opened fire at the "main instigators."

Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, commander of the Israeli military's Southern Command, which includes the border, said on Friday, "We are identifying attempts to carry out terror attacks under the camouflage of riots."

He urged Gaza residents to stay away from the border, and held Hamas responsible for any violence there.

Palestinian witnesses said hundreds of Palestinians participated in clashes, while thousands more gathered in tent encampments set up in five sites.

Such mass gatherings near the border signal a new tactic by Hamas that might prove more challenging to Israel's military than previous smaller protests. Military officials have said they will respond harshly to any breaches of the border fence. At the same time, a rising number of casualties will likely stoke more border tensions, a scenario Israel hopes to avoid.

The sit-ins are seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break a crippling, decade-old Gaza border blockade by Israel and Egypt that has made it increasingly difficult for the group — considered a terrorist organization by many countries, including Canada — to govern.

Other tactics over the years, including Hamas's cross-border wars with Israel and attempts to reconcile with political rival Mahmoud Abbas, the West Bank-based Palestinian president, have failed to end Gaza's isolation.

More protests planned

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum praised the turnout.

"The large crowds ... reflect the Palestinian people's determination to achieve the right of return and break the siege, and no force can stop this right," he said.

Friday's actions are to be the first in a series of protests planned in Gaza in coming weeks. The protests are to culminate on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel's creation, with a march through the border fence.

Palestinians commemorate the date as the anniversary of their mass displacement and uprooting during the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation. The vast majority of Gaza residents are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from communities in what is now Israel.

Israel's military said ahead of Friday's protests that it doubled its standard troop level along the border, deploying snipers, special forces and paramilitary border police units, which specialize in riot control. It said it views with "great severity any breach of Israeli sovereignty or damage to the security fence."

Previous protests near the border fence in recent months have turned deadly, with Israeli soldiers firing live bullets at Palestinians hurling firebombs, burning tires or throwing stones.

On Friday, mosques across Gaza called on Palestinians to join the protests. Buses took protesters to the border area, including five tent encampments set up from north to south, several hundred metres from the border fence. By noon, thousands had arrived at the encampments.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's supreme leader, visited the tents, along with Gaza leader Yehiyeh Sinwar.

Few details on deaths

The Palestinian Health Ministry did not immediately provide details on the six people it said were killed, saying only that five were killed at the border fence and one by Israeli tank fire earlier in the day in southern Gaza — a Palestinian farmer identified as Amr Samour, 27.

Israel said troops had directed tank fire at suspicious figures near the border fence in the area.

Yasser Samour, a relative and fellow farmer, said Amr Samour was harvesting parsley before dawn, in hopes of selling it fresh in the market later in the day.

"I was working on the next field," Yasser Samour said. "We heard shelling landing on the field where Amr works. We ran there and found him hit directly with a shell. We were more than a kilometre away from the border."

Another farmer was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, Samour said.