© AP Photo / Khalil Hamra
At least 130 Palestinian protesters have been injured as tensions at the Israeli-Gaza border begin to heat up on the third consecutive Friday of protests, Gaza's health ministry reported. The spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces has confirmed that Israeli troops are deploying tear gas and using live fire in order to disperse protesters at five points along the security fence.
IDF troops are responding with riot dispersal means and are firing in accordance with the rules of engagement. The IDF won't allow any harm to security infrastructure & will act against the violent rioters & terrorists who threaten either
Local media report that the Israeli army has closed all roads leading to the Gaza strip.
Organizers call on the demonstrators to burn Israeli flags and raise the Palestinian ones.
According to videos emerging in social media, people in some Arab countries express solidarity with the Palestinian protesters.
Earlier, the Israeli military warned that protest actions which would turn violent will get a response.
The six-week protest campaign, dubbed the Great March of Return, was organized by the Hamas movement and began on March 30. According to Hamas, Palestinians are peacefully demanding their right to return to the territories they claim were illegally seized by Israel, while Israeli authorities say that Palestinians can settle only in Gaza and the West Bank.
According to the Gaza health ministry, since the start of the protests, over 30 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,300 got wounds.
The protests will reach its culmination on Nakba day, May 15, the date which marks the so-called "catastrophe" when millions of Palestinian marchers had to flee their homes after the creation of the state of Israel.
Comment: Israel is not only shooting Palestinians in the back, but they are shooting their own selves in the foot. Perceptions of Israel 'the only democracy in the Middle East' with the 'most moral army in the world' are changing among many who are now more privy to their wanton violence. But Israel remains too arrogant and pathological to even moderate their aggression towards the protesting Palestinians, only to confirm - through their actions - that they keep Gazans corralled like animals to a slow-motion slaughter.