Friday, August 31, 2018

Thousands Of Palestinians Protest Near Gaza Border Fence



Palestinians clash with IDF on Gaza border; 180 said wounded




Some 5,000 Palestinians protested Friday along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, with some 180 wounded, according to Palestinian reports.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said some 180 demonstrators were wounded in clashes with IDF troops, including several who were hit by live fire. Among the wounded were a ten-year-old boy and a female paramedic, identified as Horouq Abu Masamah, the ministry said.
The IDF had no immediate comment.


The Ynet news site said that a hand-grenade was thrown at IDF troops and that Palestinians also managed to down an IDF drone used to disperse tear gas on the protesters. There were no IDF injuries, Ynet said.
One incendiary balloon sent over the border from the Strip caused a fire near Kibbutz Be’eri. Fire fighters extinguished it before it could spread.
The clashes came despite reports that Israel is in advanced indirect talks with Hamas, via UN and Egyptian mediation, for a long-term truce in the Strip.
Gaza has seen a surge of violence since the start of the “March of Return” protests along the border in March. The clashes, which Gaza’s Hamas rulers have orchestrated, have included rock and Molotov cocktail attacks on troops, as well as attempts to breach the border fence and attack Israeli soldiers.









The Palestinian March of Return protests took place on Friday with 7,500 Gaza residents reportedly demonstrating at various locations near the security fence. 

The March of Return protests have been going on for 23 weeks.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that 120 Palestinian were wounded during the protests and 38 people required hospital care. 

A terror balloon caused a fire in the region of Kibbutz Be'eri. Israeli fire fighting teams put out the fire with the help of Jewish National Fund Keren Kayemet teams. Two terror kites were reported as well.  

Earlier in August, thousands of Israeli Gaza border communities residents protested in Tel Aviv against the ongoing tensions in the south of the country. Protesters carried signs claiming the right of a child near the Gaza border fence to safety is equal to that of a child in central Israel and called on the prime minister to "wake up" as the south is "on fire". 

One protester reportedly cried out: "We're being used as cannon fodder!" 



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