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GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians on Friday in protests along Gaza 's border, Gaza health officials said. Israel said it's troops shot a group of people in the army.
A wounded Palestinian boy is evacuated during a protest calling for the Israeli blockade on Gaza and demanding the right to return to their homeland, at the Israel-Gaza border fence in the southern Gaza Strip October 12, 2018. REUTERS / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
The Palestinian deaths brought to around 200 the number of Gazans killed on the border protests began on March 30, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures.
Gaza medics said that, in addition to the seven dead, around 140 others were wounded.
The Israeli military said that the demonstrators, numbering around 15,000, had been "hurling rocks, explosive devices, firebombs and grenades".
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col Jonathan Conricus tweeted that one group had "detonated a bomb on the Israel-Gaza border fence", allowing around 20 people to climb through the hole.
He said he was going to be attacked by a group of people and was killed by the troops.
The Palestinian protesters are demanding an end to an Israeli and Egyptian blockade on the narrow coastal strip, which is home to around 2 million Gazans. They also seek the right to return Palestinians fled gold or were driven from Israel's founding in 1948.
Israel accuses the Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza, of orchestrating the protests along the border fence to provide cover for attacks and to distract from Gaza's economic plight. Hamas denies the allegations.
The Israeli military has been criticized by Palestinians and international human rights groups for its response to the protests. It says its troops have used "riot dispersal means" and "fired" in accordance with standard operating procedures.
One Israeli soldier has been killed by a Palestinian sniper during the weekly protests, and tracts of Israeli landmarks have been scorched by incendiary kites and balloons.
Hamas seized control of Gaza from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 and has since fought with Israel, most recently in 2014.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, addressing a conference in Istanbul from Gaza, said on Friday that Hamas was seeking access to several parts, including Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations. He expressed hope that the efforts "could lead to calm in return for breaking the siege".
Reporting by Stephen Farrell; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Andrew Heavens
