Israeli forces gun down Palestinian protesters in Gaza, Killing 3 and Wounding 611

27 Apr

11:51 PM

Thousands of Palestinians gathered at the Gaza-Israel border today in several locations in the north, east and south of Gaza, for the fifth week of Friday protests.

Three Palestinians were killed today, and 611 injured by Israeli forces stationed at the border firing both live ammunition and so-called ‘less-than-lethal’ weaponry.

Of the 611 wounded, 154 were struck by live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers at the border. No Israeli soldiers were wounded.

According to Ashraf al-Qidra of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 18 medics and medical personnel were among those wounded on Friday.

al-Qidra added that Israeli forces specifically targeted medical service points twice with an unidentified gas east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. This appeared to be a new type of gas that caused those who inhaled it to suffer from severe convulsions. A number of these victims had to be hospitalized.

The demonstration is called the ‘Great Return March’, and is meant to bring attention to the fact that millions of Palestinians are imprisoned in the Gaza Strip, unable to return to their homes in what is now Israel.

Palestinians make up the largest refugee population on earth.
Israeli troops again opened fire on the unarmed protesters, as they have done each Friday since the protests began on march 30th.

Since March 30th, Israeli forces have killed forty three Palestinian protesters, and wounded more than five thousand.

An international outcry against the continued shooting of civilian protesters has not reached the US, where politicians have been largely silent on the issue.

Irish and South African politicians have been leading the call for justice for Palestinians, calling the Israeli government an ‘apartheid state’ much like South Africa in the 1980s.

In response to Israel’s fifth straight week of attacking unarmed demonstrators at the border, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, issued a statement that, “The loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators – not once, not twice, but repeatedly”.