As plumes of tear gas drift across the Israeli no-go zone inside Gaza's border fence, Palestinian protesters dart between them, relying on an array of homemade devices to keep out the fumes.
Medical masks, plastic bottles, T-shirts and keffiyehs have all been pressed into service against the tear gas used by Israeli troops. One ingredient is common to many of the devices: onions.
A single vegetable's effectiveness is questionable when pitted against the military's crowd control measures, but the protesters persist.
Some say they are imitating the techniques used in the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel in the late 1980s. Others have copied masks they saw in Hollywood movies such as "V for Vendetta."
Jehad Abu Mehsen, 48, covered most of her face with a plastic bottle holding an onion in place over her nose. She was sure that the more onion she used, the longer she could stay at a prowwww.
"It does help to alleviate the strong smell but it doesn't stop the gas from coming. I have twice been taken to the medical tent to be treated," she said.
Mazen Al-Najar, 15, preferred a cocktail of ingredients – an empty Coca Cola can filled with cotton, perfume and coal.
Asked what would he hope to become when he grew up, he paused before saying, "Maybe a mask-maker."
Gaza-based physician Mahmoud Al-Khuzundar said the protesters' makeshift means of protection were useless against direct exposure to tear gas, and had more of a psychological impact.
"Some people try to be creative, others want to look tough," he said.
Tear gas is by no means the worst hazard the protesters face.
Thirty Palestinians have been killed during the six-week "March of Return," which has renewed long-standing Palestinian demands for the right to return to the homes that their families fled during violence surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Israel's military and political leadership have defended the use of live fire against rioters and have presented evidence showing hundreds of Palestinians torching tires and throwing stones and firebombs at the Israeli troops. Some have tried using the thick smoke to breach the security fence and the IDF says Hamas terrorists are using the cover of protests to plant explosives on the security fence.
Senior defense officials said Tuesday that intelligence suggested that Hamas operatives are practicing breaching the fence, rushing IDF posts and abducting Israeli soldiers and civilians. In some places near the border, these drills are carried out in broad daylight, one official said.
