A week after the US blocked a similar attempt, Kuwait was on Friday once again pushing for the UN Security Council to call for an investigation of Israel’s actions on the Gaza border during recent Palestinian demonstrations.
Kuwait, which represents Arab countries on the council, circulated a draft press statement to members which reinforces the Palestinians’ right to peaceful protest, calls for an independent and transparent probe of the clashes over the past week, and calls for all sides to show restraint and prevent escalation.
On Twitter, Kuwait’s UN mission said the UNSC “should address this matter and have a unified positions… What is happening is a violation of international law.”
#Kuwait's PR Amb. Mansour Al-Otaibi at #UNSC stakeout on #Gaza: #Kuwait circulated another press statement to the #UNSC. #Kuwait's position is clear, the #UNSC should address this matter & have a unified positions towards. What is happening is a violation of international law. pic.twitter.com/ydlLBMnCUD
— Kuwait Mission to the UN ???????? (@KuwaitMissionUN) April 6, 2018
According to Hadashot TV news, US officials were working to prevent the council from adopting the Kuwaiti draft.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the council “should condemn Hamas, which uses children as human shields while risking their lives, and must call for the end of these provocations which only increase the violence and tensions.”
Last Satuday the US blocked a similar draft UN Security Council statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation of clashes on the border, diplomats said.
Kuwait presented the proposed statement, which called for an “independent and transparent investigation” of the violence.
The draft council statement also expressed “grave concern at the situation at the border.” And it reaffirmed “the right to peaceful protest” and expressed the council’s “sorrow at the loss of innocent Palestinian lives.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered along the Gaza border on Friday, burning tires and throwing firebombs and rocks at Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas and live fire, the army and witnesses said, as Palestinians held a second “March of Return” protest.
Hamas said seven Gazans were killed by Israeli fire. The IDF said it thwarted multiple efforts to breach the border fence — and that it used live fire to do so in some instances — as well as attempts to activate bombs against the troops under the cover of smoke.
As night fell on the second successive Friday’s Hamas-backed “March of Return” at the Gaza border, the Israeli army said it had managed to frustrate what it called the terror group’s “manipulative” efforts to breach the border fence and carry out acts of terrorism under the cover of a public protest.
The Palestinian Authority meanwhile said it “strongly condemned” the killing of “peaceful” protesters in Gaza.
Some 20,000 Gazans participated in Friday’s demonstration — compared to over 30,000 a week ago — and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said seven people were killed in the course of the day, compared to some 20 a week ago.
Israeli military sources said it was believed that everyone who was hit by IDF gunfire had been engaged in violence. Some Hebrew media reports quoted IDF officials saying all those who were hurt were Hamas operatives.
The IDF released video footage of Gazans attempting to breach or target the fence under cover of huge plumes of black smoke caused by the burning of tires close to the border, and Israeli television showed footage of what appeared to be teenage Gazans rolling tires close to the border fence.
“What we’re seeing is violent disturbances under cover of which Hamas is trying to carry out acts of terrorism,” said Maj-Gen. Eyal Zamir, the head of the IDF’s Southern Command, terming the tactic “manipulation by Hamas.”
“Hamas sent children out ahead [toward the fence], cynically using them,” the IDF’s spokesman, Ronen Manelis, said on Friday night. Manelis specified that eight explosive devices and numerous petrol bombs were thrown, and that the IDF faced several attempts “to cut through the fence.”
“There were attempts to carry out acts of terrorism … using the smoke [from burning tires] for cover,” he said, but the IDF had ensured the fence was not breached.
“The army did its job,” said Manelis. “The fence was not breached and [Israel’s] sovereignty was not harmed.”
Israeli military officials indicated that the IDF’s warnings to Gazans to stay back from the fence, and its firm defense of the border at last week’s protests, had a deterrent effect. Far fewer demonstrators came near the fence, they said.
Hadashot TV news said imams at prayer sessions near the border during the day told Gazans to stay at least 300 meters from the border. Hamas leaders, who did circulate among the demonstrators, did not approach as close to the fence as they did a week ago, it also reported.
The IDF is maintaining a large deployment of forces at the border, braced for further disturbances in the coming days, and a likely third major demonstration next Friday.
IDF officials said Hamas was seeking “a victory picture” of its members breaching the fence, and/or crossing into Israel, and that the IDF had thus far prevented this. They said Hamas now faced the challenge of maintaining momentum for the planned ongoing protests, and that it had been disingenuously assuring Gazans in recent days that the protests would be peaceful so that they would continue to come to the demonstrations.
The PA, in a statement published in Ramallah Friday evening, called on its envoys to the UN, the Arab League and the EU to immediately work with all international parties to “stop this deliberate brutality and killing of innocent and defenseless people.”
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