Israel kills 4 Palestinians in Gaza
October 27, 2018
Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians during protests on Friday along the boundary with Gaza. Soldiers injured 232 more, 180 of them from live fire, Health officials in Gaza said, prompting militants to fire a barrage of rockets at Israel hours later.
The Israeli military said its Iron Dome defense system shot down most of the nearly dozen rockets fired at Israel. No Israelis were injured.
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The Israeli military also carried out airstrikes on what it said were "terror targets in the Gaza Strip," a densely populated area of 2 million people ruled by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group.
Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, praised the rocket attacks but did not claim responsibility.
The flare-up in violence threatened to undermined Egyptian and UN mediated talks to end months of tensions between Israel and Hamas that has spawn fears of another war.
On Friday, around 16,000 Palestinians in Gaza protested along the heavily defended fence. The Israeli military said the demonstrators burned tires, threw stones and hurled grenades and fire bombs.
Among those wounded by Israeli forces were more than 30 children and four paramedics, Gaza health officials said.
Since March 30, Palestinians in Gaza have held weekly Friday protests against a blockade of Gaza that has contributed to a severe humanitarian crisis.
The protests, which have often been peaceful, also call for the right to return of Palestinians expelled from their lands following the foundation of Israel n 1948.
On Friday, Hamas said the protests would continue until Palestinian demands were met.
In the past seven months, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed and at least 22,000 injured by Israeli forces, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Most of the casualties occurred during protests. One Israeli soldier has been killed.
Israel accuses Hamas of orchestrating the protests.
Separately on Friday, a Palestinian protester was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. Another Palestinian was killed in Gaza, reportedly when an explosive he held accidentally exploded.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.
cw/amp (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)