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JERUSALEM – According to Gaza health officials, seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire on Friday during stormy demonstrations along the Hamas-led barrier separating Israel and Gaza.
Four of them were shot after entering Israeli territory and approached a sniper position, the Israeli army and a witness said.
There were no casualties on the Israeli side.
In response to border violence and new fires on the Israeli side caused by incendiary balloons from Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that he was putting an end to Qatar-funded fuel transfers to the Gaza Strip. Fuel deliveries had begun in recent days to alleviate the chronic energy shortage in Gaza that left most of its two million inhabitants with only eight hours of electricity every 24 hours.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, has been organizing weekly demonstrations along the Israeli border for six months to protest the blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory and demand the return of land to present-day Israel. After the presence and international attention began to fade in recent weeks, Hamas created special units to expand protests, known as the "Great March of Return."
Fuel transfers were a first sign of progress after weeks of intense efforts by Egypt and the UN to mediate a stable ceasefire between Israel and the United Nations. Hamas. In addition to the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, for security reasons, Hamas faces economic sanctions imposed by its rival, the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank.
Since the protests began, about 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel says it is acting to prevent breaches in the fence in violation of its sovereignty and to protect Israeli civilians living near the border. An Israeli soldier was killed by an elite gunman in Gaza.
The Israeli army said about 15,000 Palestinians took part in Friday's demonstrations in several places along the fence and that the rioters burned tires and threw stones, explosive devices and grenades at the soldiers and the police. fence.
The event, in which four Palestinians were killed, occurred near the El Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. There were conflicting accounts of what happened.
The Israeli army said that the attackers had dug a hole in the fence with an explosive device and that about twenty Palestinians entered Israeli territory. The soldiers fired warning shots and most of the protesters returned to Gaza, said the army, while some headed for a military post and were shot dead.
Fadi Thabet, a Gaza photographer who was on the scene, said that a group had approached about 30 meters from the Israeli snipers post, but that three of them were waiting. between them had been killed while they were retreating, running towards the fence. A fourth, Thabet said by phone, was shot at close range as he tried to hide behind a cement wall about 20 meters from the sniper's post.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, praised what he called, in a statement, "a massive turnout" at the protest on Friday. "The great sacrifice made by the Palestinian masses is a milestone in the history of the march," the statement said.
The Israeli army described the event as "an attempt of blatant terror that was thwarted by I.D.F. troops quickly and professionally ", and which" prevented a possible terrorist attack against civilians and I.F.F. troops."
On Thursday, the Israeli army announced that it had neutralized a tunnel built by Hamas to enter Israeli territory. It was the 15th tunnel of this type to be destroyed last year, according to Israeli officials.
Iyad Abuheweila and Ibrahim El-Mughraby reported from Gaza City
