GAZA CITY: Thousands of people marched through the streets on Saturday for the funerals of 16 Palestinians killed by Israel, which vowed to strongly counter protests planned for the next six weeks.
Israeli troops fired warning shots toward Palestinian youths gathered at the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday, wounding 13 people, health officials said.
Tensions remained high as the Palestinian government called a national day of mourning, institutions and universities were closed, and a general strike was called in Gaza and the West Bank.
One of the biggest Palestinian demonstrations in years took place on Friday, with Israeli forces confronting protesters who gathered in their tens of thousands along the 40-mile Gaza-Israeli frontier. The Israeli military estimate was 30,000 people.
Tents have been erected at the fenced border for planned protests scheduled to culminate on May 15, when the state of Israel was created in what Palestinians call the Nakba, or Catastrophe.
The planned protests, called the Great March of Return, is backed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, including the Fatah faction of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.
The UN Security Council was briefed on the violence in Gaza on Friday at the request of Kuwait. Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, called for an independent, transparent investigation and appealed “to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties, and in particular any measures that could place civilians in harm's way,” his spokesman said in a statement.
In the northern town of Beit Lahiya, the Sabbagh family prepared to bury 20-year-old Bader, who was shot dead by Israeli troops. His family set up a tent outside their house on the main street in Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, to receive relatives and neighbors.
Bader was the youngest boy in his family and worked at a blacksmith's workshop but he had not been paid that week, said Mohammed, his brother, who was standing next to him when he was killed.
“The soldiers were lining up behind the fence. There were many young men standing in front of us, and there were others behind us. Suddenly I heard the sound of gunfire and we started running away and I saw my brother falling down,” Mohammed told Arab News.
“At about 3:30 p.m., he came to ask me for a cigarette. He complained about the bad situation and that he did not have any money. He said: ‘I do not want this life.’ I gave him a cigarette and a few seconds later, the bullet came to kill him.”
Mohammed Al-Awawdeh, 21, said he took part in Friday’s protests and will continue to do so in the coming days “to achieve the demands to lift the siege and restore the land,” he said
“I will come daily with my friends and I will continue daily with my friends here. We will make the occupation hate the day they came to our land. They have to leave here.”
Hamas announced that five of those killed on Friday were from the military wing of the Qassam Brigades.
A statement issued by the Al-Qassam Brigades said: “As usual, the criminal occupier has lost the blood of our people and attacked their peaceful, popular marches with barbarity. He targeted the unarmed civilians with live bullets.”
Brig.-General Ronen Manelis, Israeli military spokesman, said Hamas was using the protests as a guise to launch attacks against Israel and ignite the area. He said violence would likely continue along the border until May 15.
“We won’t let this turn into a ping-pong zone where they perpetrate a terrorist act and we respond with pinpoint action. If this continues we will have no choice but to respond inside the Gaza Strip,” Manelis told reporters.
Thousands gather in Gaza for funerals of shot protesters
Thousands gather in Gaza for funerals of shot protesters
Israeli strike kills 2 teenagers in Gaza
- Palestinian death toll since the start of the war in October 2023 rises to 71,654
GAZA: The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that Israeli fire had killed three people, including two children, in two separate incidents in the northern Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed the two teenagers in a drone strike, while the military claimed it eliminated two “terrorists” who planted an explosive device near troops.
The civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue service, said the drone killed the two near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.
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Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital said on Saturday it received the two bodies, adding they were two boys aged 13 and 15.
The territory’s Al-Shifa Hospital said it received the two bodies, adding they were two boys aged 13 and 15.
The military said the pair had posed an “immediate threat” to its soldiers.
“Earlier today ... troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip identified several terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line, planted an explosive device in the area, and approached the troops, posing an immediate threat to them,” the military said in a statement.
Under a US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on Oct. 10, Israeli forces have withdrawn to positions behind a so-called “Yellow Line” in Gaza, though they remain in control of more than half of the territory.
“Following the identification, the (Israeli air force) struck and eliminated the terrorists in order to remove the threat,” the military said.
A military press officer claimed that its troops had “killed two terrorists and not children,” without specifying the ages of those killed.
The civil defense said another fatality was also reported in a separate incident when an Israeli quadcopter struck a group of civilians in Jabalia, also in northern Gaza.
It did not provide details on the person killed in that incident. The press officer said the military had only one incident report.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Israel on Saturday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, mainly to discuss Gaza, two people briefed on the matter said.
Gaza has been reduced to rubble in the war that was triggered by an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since the beginning of the war, the death toll in Gaza now stands at 71,654 people, with 481 deaths since the October ceasefire, according to Health Ministry data.
The ceasefire has largely halted fighting between Israel and Hamas, but both sides have accused each other of violating its terms.
