Israeli troops have killed four Palestinians and wounded hundreds of others with live fire and tear gas used against protesters at the Gaza border, medics say.
Palestinian paramedics approach the barbed wire fence with Israel to tend to injured protesters during clashes along the border east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on June 1, 2018. Photo: AFP
Israel said it was defending the frontier against crowds that threw stones and burned tyres in an attempt to cross. It said at one location at least two Palestinian militants fired guns at its forces and others threw grenades.
The protests tapered off around sunset when many demonstrators left border camps for the evening meal that breaks their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Palestinians killed on Friday were three adult men and a 15-year-old boy, Gaza medics said. Of 620 people wounded, 120 were from live fire, they said.
Their deaths bring the total number of Palestinians killed at the Gaza border to 124 since protests there began on March 30, including 60 people killed in a single day last month.
Israel's deadly tactics in confronting the protests have drawn international condemnation.
Palestinians said the protests were a popular outpouring of rage against Israel by people demanding the right to return to homes their families fled or were driven from on Israel's founding 70 years ago.
Israel said the demonstrations were organised by the Islamist group Hamas that controlled the Gaza Strip and denied Israel's right to exist. Israel claimed Hamas had intentionally provoked the violence, a charge Hamas denied.
The Palestinian United Nations envoy condemned the killings and said that representatives of the Arab Group and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had asked the president of the UN General Assembly to resume an emergency session to discuss a resolution aimed at protecting Palestinian civilians.
The resolution, Ambassador Riyad Mansour said, would be similar to a Kuwaiti-drafted resolution that last week received enough support to pass a vote in the Security Council but was vetoed by the United States.
Mr Mansour said the US veto triggered the request and that Friday's violence "adds to our argument and to the urgency of providing international protection" to Palestinian civilians.
- Reuters