At least 17 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during the protest march near Gaza’s border with Israel. The march was to demonstrate the marking of the 42nd anniversary of Land Day. The Palestinian Authority has declared Saturday as a day of national mourning after the mass killing.
“Schools, universities as well as all government institutions across the country will be off on Saturday, as per President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to declare a day of national mourning for the souls of the martyrs,” a statement issued on Friday said.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 1,400 hundred others were wounded after Israeli forces fired at the protesters with live ammunition and also used tear gas to deter them.
The demonstration on Friday was to commemorate Land Day, which took place on March 20 of 1976, when six unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by illegally killed by Israeli forces during the protests against the Israeli government’s decision to expropriate massive tracts of Palestinian-owned land.
The Organisers of the Friday’s march asserted that the main aim of the demonstration was to call for the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
At least 70 percent population in Gaza are descendants of Palestinians belonging to the areas now occupied by Israel during the 1948 war. The war is known as Nakba by Arabs.
The protesters gathered to demonstrate at five different spots alongside the border, which was originally positioned some 700 metres way.
According to the Health Ministry, majority of the injured were due to live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas inhalation.
Mohammed Najjar, 25, was shot in the stomach during a clash in east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, while Mahmoud Muammar, 38, and Mohammed Abu Omar, 22, were both shot dead in Rafah, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Among the many victims were Ahmed Odeh, 19, Jihad Freneh, 33, Mahmoud Saadi Rahmi, 33, Abdelfattah Abdelnabi, 22, Ibrahim Abu Shaar, 20, Abdelqader al-Hawajiri, Sari Abu Odeh, Hamdan Abu Amsheh, Jihad Abu Jamous, Bader al-Sabbagh and Naji Abu Hjair, whose ages still remain unknown.
Earlier on Friday, Omar Waheed Abu Samour, who is a farmer from Gaza, was also killed by Israeli artillery fire while he was in a standing position in his land near Khan Younis, just hours before the demonstrations.
There has been no official confirmation from the Israeli army about the attack that killed Samour.
Adalah, a legal centre for Palestinian rights in Israel, condemned the Israeli army’s use of force, calling it an outright violation of international law.
“Live gunfire on unarmed civilians constitutes a brutal violation of the international legal obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants,” the group said in a statement.
It also said that it would launch a separate investigation to “demand that those found responsible for the killings be brought to justice”.
According to Israeli media, Israel’s army deployed more than 100 snipers on the other side of the border with full permission to fire.
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