Israeli forces kill Palestinian near Gaza border as Gaza buries dead
![](https://publisher-en.ntvbd.com/sites/default/files/styles/big_3/public/images/2018/05/15/photo-1526404809.jpg?itok=TBLZBeXa×tamp=1573121328)
Gaza-Israel Border: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian near the Gaza-Israel border on Tuesday after thousands of Palestinians turned out for the funerals of dozens of protesters killed by Israeli troops a day earlier, local health officials said.
The number of protesters that gathered at the frontier on Tuesday was significantly lower than on Monday. It appeared that many had gone to mourning tents rather than back to the scene of the bloodiest day for Palestinians since a 2014 Gaza war.
60 Palestinians were killed on Monday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, including an eight-month-old baby that died from tear gas that her family said she inhaled at a protest camp near the border. More than 2,200 Palestinians were also injured by gunfire or tear gas, local medics said.
Monday’s bloodshed took place as the United States opened its new embassy in contested Jerusalem. For the past six weeks, Palestinians have been holding Gaza border demonstrations for the return of Palestinian refugees to areas that are now part of Israel.
Israel rejects any right of return, fearing that it would deprive the state of its Jewish majority.
Palestinian medical officials say 106 Gazans have now been killed since the start of the protests and nearly 11,000 people wounded, about 3,500 of them hit by live fire. Israeli officials dispute those numbers. No Israeli casualties have been reported.
Palestinian leaders have called Monday’s events a massacre, and the Israeli tactic of using live fire against the protesters has drawn worldwide concern and condemnation.
The United Nations Security Council was due to meet to discuss the situation.
Israel has said it is acting in self-defence to defend its borders and communities. Its main ally the United States has backed that stance, with both saying that Hamas, which rules Gaza, instigated the violence, an allegation denied by the militant group opposed to Israel’s existence.
The Israeli military said at least 24 of those killed on Monday were ‘terrorists with documented terror background’ and most of them were active operatives of Hamas.
Turkey, a strong critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, told the Israeli ambassador to Ankara on Tuesday to leave, a Turkish foreign ministry source said. On Monday, Turkey said it was recalling its ambassadors to Tel Aviv and Washington.
On Tuesday morning, mourners marched through Gaza, waving Palestinian flags and calling for revenge.
‘With souls and blood we redeem you martyrs,’ they shouted.
May 15 is traditionally the day Palestinians mark the ‘Nakba’, or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven from their homes in violence culminating in war between the newly created Jewish state and its Arab neighbors in 1948.
More than 2 million people are crammed into the narrow Gaza Strip, more than two thirds of them refugees. Citing security concerns, Israel and Egypt maintain tight restrictions on the enclave, deepening economic hardship and raising humanitarian concerns.
On the Israeli side of the border, Israeli sharpshooters took up positions to stop any attempted breach of the fence should demonstrations break out again. Tanks were also deployed.
A senior Israeli commander said that of the 60 Gazans killed on Monday, 14 were carrying out attacks and 14 others were militants.
He also said Palestinians protesters were using hundreds of pipe bombs, grenades and fire-bombs. Militants had opened fire on Israeli troops and tried to set off bombs by the fence.
Many casualties were caused by Palestinians carrying out devices that went off prematurely,’ he said.
‘We approve every round fired before it is fired. Every target is spotted in advance. We know where the bullet lands and where it is aimed,’ said the commander, who spoke on condition that he not be named, in accordance with Israeli regulations.
‘However reality on the ground is such that unintended damage is caused,’ he said.
In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office condemned what it called the ‘appalling deadly violence’ by Israeli forces.
U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said Israel had a right to defend its borders according to international law, but lethal force must only be used a last resort, and was not justified by Palestinians approaching the Gaza fence.
The U.N. rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Michael Lynk, said Israel’s use of force may amount to a war crime.