Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Medics tend to a youth who was shot in the leg by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel. Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
Protests

Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza after border clashes

The escalation comes three months since Israel and Hamas reached a truce following their deadliest fighting in years.

ISRAELI WARPLANES BOMBED Gaza after clashes between its troops and Palestinian protesters left dozens injured, including an Israeli border policeman and a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who were both critically wounded.

The Israeli military said it carried out air strikes against four weapons sites and that it had reinforced its Gaza division with additional troops.

The escalation came exactly three months since Israel and the enclave’s Islamist rulers Hamas reached a truce following their deadliest fighting in years.

Israeli troops fired at Palestinian protesters who gathered near the Gaza border wall, the army and Palestinian witnesses said.

A Palestinian gunman fired at Israeli troops through an opening in the wall and crowds of young protesters hurled explosives over the barrier and tried to scale it.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said the injured included a 13-year-old boy left in a critical condition after being hit in the head.

“Forty-one civilians were wounded with various injuries,” the ministry said in a statement, with Hamas saying “thousands” of protesters had taken part.

The Israel Border Police said a 21-year-old sniper in its undercover unit was critically wounded when he was shot by a Palestinian protester.

embedded261877375 A protester pulls a blazing tyre near the fence on the Gaza Strip border with Israel.

“His condition is critical and there is a risk to his life,” it said of the wounded officer.

Hamas called for protest 

Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai in a statement vowed the force would “continue to act firmly and with all our might against those who want to harm us.”

Defence Minister Benny Gantz had warned that “these are definitely extremely serious events that will have a response”.

Shortly after his comments, the Israeli Air Force said on Twitter that its “fighter jets struck four weapons manufacturing and storage sites belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation”.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the strikes.

Hamas had called a protest Saturday to mark the burning 52 years ago of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

“Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line, and any attack on it will be met with valiant resistance from our people,” the movement said in a statement.

Late Saturday, Hamas and other groups in Gaza issued a joint statement in which they “saluted the heroic youth” who clashed with Israeli forces.

The violence is some of the worst since the 21 May ceasefire came into force.

Over 11 days in May, Israel pounded Gaza with air strikes in response to rockets fired from the enclave.

Gaza reconstruction

Hamas said it took action after Israeli security forces stormed Al-Aqsa in May.

Reconstruction in Gaza has stalled since the ceasefire, in part because of a crippling blockade Israel has maintained on the enclave since Hamas seized power in 2007.

embedded261877372 Protesters wave their national flags during a protest near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

On Thursday, Israel announced it would allow funds from Qatar to reach impoverished Palestinians in Gaza. Other restrictions remain.

The ceasefire Egypt brokered between Hamas and Israel has largely held, although there have been flare-ups.

On Monday Israel said its “Iron Dome” missile defence system intercepted a rocket fired by militants in Gaza into Israel, the first time since the recent battle.

That came after four Palestinians were killed in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

In 2018, Gazans began a protest movement demanding an end to Israel’s blockade and a right for Palestinians to return to lands they fled after the Jewish state was founded.

The Hamas-backed weekly demonstrations, often violent, sputtered as Israel killed some 350 Palestinians in Gaza over more than a year.

© – AFP, 2021

Your Voice
Readers Comments
23
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel