Dozens of Palestinians wounded by Israeli fire in border protest

Gazans launched what they call "The Great March of Return" on March 30 and the protest is set to culminate on May 15, when Palestinians mark as the "Nakba", or Catastrophe, commemorating their displacement in 1948.

Tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli troops at Palestinian demonstrators during a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City, on May 4, 2018.
Reuters

Tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli troops at Palestinian demonstrators during a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City, on May 4, 2018.

Israeli troops fired tear gas and live rounds at Palestinian protesters on the Gaza-Israel border on Friday during a long-running demonstration in which over 45 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire in the last month.

There were no early reports of deaths on Friday, but more than 350 Palestinians have been injured so far. Around 150 protestors were taken to hospitals, 42 of them wounded by live bullets. 

The Injuries occurred near the five tented camps which have sprung up on the Palestinian side of the 40-kilometre (25-mile) border fence beside which Gazans launched what they call "The Great March of Return" on March 30.

From early morning, youths brought tyres to within 500 metres (yards) of the fence, preparing to set fire to them to roll at the Israeli fence, and to use them as a smokescreen to counter Israeli sharpshooters on the other side.

TRT World's Mohammad Mansour reports the latest from Gaza.

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Two-thirds of Gaza's two million Palestinians are refugees, and the protest has revived their long-standing demand for the right of return to their former family homes, which now lie in Israel.

The protest is set to culminate on May 15, when Palestinians mark as the "Nakba," or Catastrophe, commemorating their displacement in 1948. An added focus this year is President Donald Trump's decision to begin moving the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding.

AFP

Palestinians take part in a protest demanding the right to return to their historic homelands in what is now Israel, at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Jabalia on May 4, 2018.

The Palestinians and human rights groups have criticised Israel for using live fire against the protesters.

Israel says it is protecting its borders and takes such action only when protesters, some hurling stones and Molotov cocktails trying to lay explosives, come too close to the fence.

It claims most of those killed were militants, a charge that Palestinians deny.

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