Three die in ‘day of rage’ clashes
Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops during clashes along the border fence with Gaza and across West Bank.
|||Jerusalem - Three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops and about 150 wounded during clashes along the border fence with Gaza and across the occupied West Bank on Friday, Palestinian officials said, on what had been declared a “day of rage”.
The Palestinian news agency Maan reported on Friday night that a 19-year-old, Ihab Hanani, was killed during clashes in Beit Furik, near Nablus.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks and rolled burning tyres at soldiers who called on them to halt, used “riot dispersal means” and then, after the Palestinians did not desist, opened fire with .22 calibre rounds at “main instigators.”
Mr Hanani was the fifth fatality this year from the .22 calibre Ruger rifle, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem,
The violence, part of two weeks of unrest that is the most serious seen in years, came during a day designated by Hamas - the group, which controls the Gaza Strip - as a “day of rage” against Israel.
Hamas had called for “rallies of anger and confrontations”.
Overnight, Nablus was the scene of a Palestinian petrol bomb attack on a site revered by Jews as the burial place of the biblical figure Joseph.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack and ordered that damage be repaired. He also opened an investigation into the arson.
Two Palestinians were shot dead during clashes with Israeli troops who fired across the border at demonstrators in Gaza, Maan reported, adding that about 100 Palestinians were wounded in Gaza by live Israeli fire or rubber-coated metal bullets.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that hundreds of Palestinians breached what Israel considers to be a buffer zone in Gaza territory along the border fence and attempted to damage the fence, hurling rocks, rolling burning tyres and posing a “direct threat'' to nearby Israeli communities.
Near Hebron, a Palestinian posing as a photojournalist wounded an Israeli soldier with a knife before being shot dead, the army said.
Tensions have been high due to the perception of the Palestinian public that Israel is bent on instituting Jewish prayer at al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third-holiest shrine, situated on a site revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. Israel denies making any changes.
The US Secretary of State John Kerry has said he plans to travel to the Middle East soon in an attempt to calm the tensions.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is ready to meet Mr Abbas to restore calm.
Thirty-nine Palestinians have died since the beginning of the month, according to Palestinian health officials, with 11 of those being knife-wielding assailants, according to Israeli police.
Seven Israelis have been killed.
The Independent