Israeli gunfire has wounded many dozens of Palestinians, according to the Palestinian officials. The protest were staged against Israel after the reporting of the death of a farmer due to tank fire from Israeli side.
According to Israeli military, ‘rioting’ occurred at six places and said that there ‘aim’ was main instigators.
To protest, Palestinians have made five camps near the border and was dubbed to be the Great March of Return.
According to Palestinian media, there are a total of 7,000 people who are protesting alongside the border.
As per the report by Palestinian Red Crescent, more than 50 people were wounded due to the live fire by the Israeli side. Apart from live fire, tear gas too was fired.
Media also reported from Gaza that a death had occurred of a second Palestinian during the protest near Jabaliya, but confirmation for this is yet awaited.
In an incident before the protest, in which a 27-year-old farmer Omar Samour was killed along with injury to a second man near the Khan Yunis area in the south.
According to the witnesses, the two were busy collecting parsley in a field, BBC Gaza producer Rushdi Abualouf reported.
Hamas has alleged that the Israel is trying to intimidate Palestinians by killing the farmer and then asking people not to take part in the kind of protests. Hamas is a militant group based in Gaza strip.
Addressing protesters, Hamas senior political leader Ismail Haniyeh said “we will not concede a single inch of the land of Palestine”.
The Jerusalem Post of Israel also reported a rare public appearance by the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yehiya Sinwar.
Israel fears that the protest may lead to a mass breach of the border.
The military said that a tank had fired at two suspects after suspicious activity near a security fence at the border near Khan Yunis and it said that it was very well aware of the death reports.
The Israel Defense Forces later said that some troops were “firing towards the main instigators” to break up rioting.
The Israeli foreign ministry has expressed that the protest was a “deliberate attempt to provoke a confrontation with Israel” and that “responsibility for any clashes lies solely with Hamas and other participating Palestinian organizations”.
Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman took the unusual step of tweeting in Arabic language, accusing Hamas of playing with common citizens’ lives and warning people not to take any part in it.
Palestinians have erected five main camp areas along the Israel border to organize the protest, from Beit Hanoun in the north to Rafah near the Egyptian border.
The Great March of Return protests were being started on Friday, as 30 March marks Land Day, which commemorates the killing of six innocent protesters by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over land confiscation in 1976.
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